•91 


[f 

\ 

/ 

1 

\ 

THF  -J 

JDFNTHUG-IES  - 

MEMDRIRL  LDLLECTIDN 

BOSTON  [DLLEGE 

« 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/lifetimesofaodhoOOmitc_0 


THE 

LIFE  AND  TIMES 

OF 

AODH  O'NEILL, 

PEINCE  OF  ULSTER; 
CALLED  BY  THE  ENGLISH, 

HUGH,  EAEL  OF  TYKONE, 

WITH 

SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  PEEDECESSOES, 

CON,  SHANE  AND  TIRLOUGH. 


BY  JOHN  MITCHEL. 


•*Cu  ni4TD  cVrOmic  -DO  cloix)  NejlL" 

•'Come  let  us  make  a  chronicle  for  the  O'Neills." 

BdSTOM   COLLEGE  UBfJARy 

P.  M.  HAVERTY. 
P.   J.  KENEDY, 
EXCELSIOR  CATHOLIC  PUBLISHING  HOUSE, 

5  Barclay  Street. 
18T9. 


205454 


TO   THE  MEMORY 

OF 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

THOMAS  DAVIS, 

WITH  DEEP  REVERENCE 
I  INSCRIBE 

IHIS  BOOK. 

JOHN  MITCHEL. 

Banlbridg*,  Sept.  23, 1845. 


PREFACE. 


Perhaps  in  no  country,  but  only  Ireland,  would 
a  plain  narrative  of  wars  and  revolutions  that  ara 
past  and  gone  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  run 
any  risk  of  being  construed  as  an  attempt  to 
foster  enmity  between  the  descendants  of  two 
races  that  fought  so  long  since  for  mastery  in  the 
land. 

Yet  the  writer  of  this  short  record  of  the  life 
of  the  greatest  Irish  chieftain,  is  warned  that 
such  construction  may,  and  by  some  assuredly 
will,  be  put  upon  the  following  story  and  the 
writer's  manner  of  telling  it.  But  as  to  the  nar- 
rative itself,  undoubtedly  the  only  question  ought 
to  be — is  it  true  f  And  if  so — is  the  truth  to  be 
told,  or  hidden  ? — Is  it  not  at  all  times,  in  all 
places,  above  all  things,  desirable  to  hear  the 
truth  instead  of  a  lie  ?  And  for  the  way  in 
which  it  is  told — the  writer  does  indeed  ac- 
knowledge a  strong  sympathy  with  the  primitive 
Irish  race,  proud  and  vehement,  tender  and 


vi  PREFACE. 

poetical ;  with  their  deep  religion  and  boundlosa 
wealth  of  sweetest  song,  and  high  old  names,  and 
the  golden  glories  of  Tradition  ;  retiring  slowly, 
and  not  without  a  noulo  Jliuggle,  before  what  is 
called  "  Civilization,"  and  the  instii.'^'iive  and  un- 
relenting insolence  of  English  dominion ;  mostly 
victors  in  the  field,  but  always  overcome  by 
policy ;  plucking  down  the  robber  standard  of 
England  in  many  a  stricken  battle — but  on  the 
whole,  by  iron  destiny,  and  that  combination  of 
force  and  fraud  and  treachery,  which  has  ever 
characterized  the  onward  march  of  English 
power — borne  back,  disunited,  and  finally  almost 
swept  from  the  earth,  to  make  way  for  the  greedy 
adventurers  of  all  Great  Britain.  And  if  the 
word  "  Saxon"  or  "  Englishman"  is  sometimes 
used  with  bitterness,  it  is  because  the  writer, 
carrying  himself  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
t-ickward,  and  viewing  events,  not  as  from  the 
Council-chamber  of  Dublin  Castle,  but  from  the 
Ii'ish  forests  and  the  Irish  hearths,  is  sometimes 
tenipn^d  to  use  the  language  that  fitted  the  time, 
and  might  have  lain  in  the  mouth  of  a  clansman 
of  Tyr-eoghain. 

But  the  struggle  io  over,  and  can  never,  upon 
that  quarrel,  be  renewed.  Those  Milesian  Irish, 
as  B  distinct  nation,  (why  not  admit  it?)  were 
beaten — were  finally  subdued  ;  as  the  Fir-bolga 


FREFACE.  VU 

were  before  them  ;  as  the  ancient  Kymry  were 
in  Britain,  and  afterwards  their  conquerors  the 
Saxons.  A  new  immigration  was  made,  early 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  like  that  of  the  Tuatha- 
de-Danaan  and  Milesians  of  remoter  times.  Once 
more  new  blood  was  infused  into  old  Ireland  ; 
the  very  undertakers  that  planted  Ulster  grew 
racy  of  the  soil ;  and  their  children's  children 
became,  thank  God  !  not  only  Irish,  but  united 
Irish — became  "  Eighty-two"  Volunteers — anti- 
Union  patriots — in  every  struggle  of  Irish  na- 
tionhood against  English  domination  (to  which 
the  now  impending  on®  shall  not  be  an  exception) 
were  found  in  the  foremost  ranks,  "more  Irish 
than  the  Irish."  The  armies  of  Elizabeth,  the 
planters  and  undertakers  of  James,  may  have 
been  marauding  adventurers,  or  even  robbers : 
let  it  be  granted  that  they  were — so  were  the 
Franks  who  founded  Charlemagne's  empire ;  so 
were  the  vagabonds  and  fugitive  slaves  who 
Socked  into  the  asylum"  of  Romulus — and 
afterwards,  off-scouring  of  mankind  as  they  were, 
begat  a  progeny  that  bore  the  Roman  Eagle  over 
nations'  necks,  from  Indus  to  the-  Pillars  of  Her- 
cules. Whatever  god  or  demon  may  have  led 
the  first  of  them  to  these  shores,  tbe  Anglo-Irish 
and  Scottish  Ulsterraen  have  now  far  too  old  a 
title  to  be  questioned :  Uiey  were  a  hardy  race, 


Viii  PREFACE. 

and  fought  stoutly  for  the  pleasant  valleys  they 
dwell  in.  And  are  not  Derry  and  Enniskillen 
Ireland^s^  as  well  as  Benburb  and  the  Yellow 
Ford  ? — and  have  not  those  men  and  their  fathers 
lived,  and  loved,  and  worshipped  God,  and  died 
there  ? — are  not  their  green  graves  heaped  up 
there — more  generations  of  them  than  they  have 
genealogical  skill  to  count  ? — a  deep  enough  root 
those  planters  have  struck  into  the  soil  of  Ulster^ 
and  it  would  noAV  be  ill  striving  to  unplant 
them. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  boasts  to  be  of  that 
blood  himself :  no  Milesian  drop  flows  in  his 
veins ;  and  therefore  he  may  be  the  more  easily 
believed  in  disclaiming  the  base  intention  to  ex- 
asperate Celtic  Irish  against  Saxon  Irish,  or 
to  revive  ancient  feuds  between  the  several  races 
that  now  occupy  Irish  soil,  and  are  known  to  all 
the  world  besides,  as  Irishmen. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  object  of  this  Life  of 
Hugh  O'Neill  is  simply  to  present  as  life-like  a 
sketch  as  the  writer's  ability  and  information  en- 
able him  to  give,  of  an  important  era  of  Irish 
history,  and  the  deeds  of  that  illustrious  chief- 
tain who  was  the  leading  spirit  of  the  time  ;  who 
was  the  first,  for  many  a  century,  to  conceive, 
and  almost  to  realize  the  grand  thought  of 
cneaticg  a  new  Irish  Nation :  and  who  for  so 


VREFACE.  ix 

liiany  bloody  years,  bulwarked  Lis  native  Ulster 
against  the  numerous  armies  and  veteran  gene- 
rals of  the  greatest  English  monarch.  And,  fur- 
ther than  this,  if  any  reader  shall  see  a  striking 
similarity  in  the  dealings  of  England  towards 
Ireland  then,  and  now — towards  Ireland  Milesian 
and  Strongbownian,  and  a  later  Irish  nation  con- 
sisting of  Milesians,  Strongbownians,  Scottish 
planters,  and  Cromwellian  adventurers  ; — and  if 
such  reader  shall  recognize  the  policy  recom- 
mended by  Bacon,  directed  by  Cecil,  and  prac- 
tised by  Mountjoy  and  Carew,  in  the  proceedings 
of  certain  later  statesmen  of  England ;  and  if 
(which  is  not  impossible)  he  shall  arrive  at  the 
conclusion,  that  the  bitterest,  deadliest  foe  of  Ire- 
land (however  peopled)  is  the  foul  fiend  of  Eng- 
lish imperialism ;  and,  further,  if  he  shall  draw 
from  this  whole  story  the  inevitable  moral,  that 
ut  any  time  it  only  needed  Irishmen  of  all  bloods 
to  stand  together — to  be  even  nearly  united — in 
order  to  exorcise  that  fiend  for  ever,  and  drive 
him  irrevocably  into  the  Red  Sea  ; — surely  it  will 
be  no  fault  of  the  present  writer. 

In  the  days  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  the  religious 
element  had  begun  to  mingle,  with  terrible  elTcct, 
in  Irish  affairs.  And  as  "  the  business  of  a  re- 
ligious reformation  in  Ireland,"  to  use  the  words 
of  Dr.  Leland,  "  was  nothing  more  than  the  im^ 


X  PEE PACE. 

position  of  English  government  on  a  people  no! 

sufficiently  obedient  to  that  government — not  suf- 
ficiently impressed  with  fear  or  reconciled  by 
kindness,"*  it  is  impossible  for  an  Irishman, 
writing  of  that  period,  and  sympathizing  with 
the  outraged  and  plundered  people,  to  describe 
that  most  singular  transaction  with  any  soft  or 
conciliatory  phrases.  Imagine  how  a  native  of 
Ireland  must  then  have  regarded  the  "  Reformed" 
church.  To  him  it  was  simply  the  church  of  the 
Btranger — it  was  an  ally  of  the  enemy  : — the  spi- 
ritual supremacy  and  the  temporal  sovereignty  of 
a  foreign  king,  were  to  him  altogether  indistin- 
guishable, and  alike  detestable  :  the  one  seemed 
but  a  scheme  of  plunder  for  military  adventurers, 
the  other  for  ecclesiastical.  Apart  from  all  consi- 
derations of  doctrinal  truth  (with  which,  as  being 
wholly  irrelevant,  the  writer  of  these  pages  does 
not  meddle)  it  was  enough  for  the  Irish  people  to 
know  that  foreign  usurpation  and  foreign  religion 
were  striding  over  their  country,  hand  in  hand, 
and  planting  their  footsteps  together  deep  in 
blood  and  tears ; — deposing  their  chiefs,  perse- 
cuting their  bards,  supplanting  their  ancient 
laws,  and  also  prostrating  their  illustrious  and 

*  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  XL  p.  201.  He  is  speaking  of 
the  religious  changes  raade  in  the  reigo  of  Edward  iho 
Sixth. 


PREFACfi.  Xi 

hospitable  monasteries,  dishonouring  the  relics  of 
their  saints,  and  hunting  their  venerated  clergy- 
like  wolves. 

But  this,  also,  is  all  past  and  over.  The  verj 
penal  laws,  last  relics  of  that  bloody  business, 
are  with  the  days  before  the  flood.  And,  though 
it  be  true,  that  the  mode  of  planting  this  Esta- 
blished Church  of  Ireland ',— firsts  enthroning  a 
whole  hierarchy  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  and 
then  importing  clergy  for  the  bishops  and  pa- 
rishioners for  the  clergy — was  of  all  recorded 
apostolic  missions  the  most  preposterous — though 
the  rapacity  of  those  missionaries  was  too  ex- 
orbitant, and  their  methods  of  conversion  too 
sanguinary  ;  yet,  now^  amongst  the  national  in- 
stitutions, amongst  the  existing  forces,  that  make 
up  what  we  call  an  Irish  nation,  the  church,  so 
far  as  it  is  a  spiritual  teacher,  must  positively  be 
reckoned.  Its  altars,  for  generations,  have  been 
served  by  a  devoted  body  of  clergy  ;  its  sanctua- 
ries thronged  by  our  countrymen  ;  its  prelates, 
the  successors  of  those  very  queerCs  bishops^  have 
been  amongst  the  most  learned  and  pious  orna- 
ments of  the  Christian  church.  Their  stories 
are  twined  with  our  history ;  their  dust  is  Irish 
earth  ;  and  their  memories  are  Ireland's  for  ever. 
In  the  little  church  of  Dromore,  hard  by  the 
murmuring  Lagan,  lie  buried  the  bones  of  Jo- 


xii 


PREFACE. 


remy  Taylor;  would  Ireland  be  richer  without 
that  grave  ?  la  any  gallery  of  illustrious  Irish- 
men, Ussher  and  Swift  shall  not  be  forgotten; 
Deny  and  Cloyne  will  not  soon  let  the  name  of 
Berkely  die ;  and  the  lonely  tower  of  Clough 
Oughter  is  hardly  more  interesting  to  an  Irish- 
man as  the  place  where  Owen  Eoe  breathed  his 
last  sigh,  than  by  the  imprisonment  within  its 
walls  of  the  mild  and  excellent  Bishop  of  Kilmore. 
&it  mea  anima  cum  Bedello! 

When  Irishmen  consent  to  let  the  past  become 
indeed  History,  not  party  politics,  and  begin  to 
learn  from  it  the  lessons  of  mutual  respect  and 
tolerance,  instead  of  endless  bitterness  and  en- 
mity ;  then,  at  last,  this  distracted  land  shall  see 
the  dawn  of  hope  and  peace,  and  begin  to  renew 
her  youth  and  rear  her  head  amongst  the  proud* 
est  of  the  nations. 


PREFACE 
TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


TwENTT-THEEE  yeai's  liave  gone  by  since  the 
writer  composed  this  small  volume.  It  was 
undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Thomas  Davis 
for  the  series  called  "Library  of  Ireland,"  anp 
has  had  quite  as  much  popularity  as  it  deserved. 

Since  the  time  of  its  publication,  a  very  largo 
mass  of  historic  material,  then  inaccessible  to 
the  writer,  has  been  for  the  first  time  brought 
to  light,  specially  illustrative  of  the  very  period 
of  our  annals  wherein  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell 
flourished  ;  so  that  now,  to  do  justice  to  the  sub- 
ject, the  "Life  of  Hugh  O'Neill "  ought  to  be  re- 
written, and  at  far  greater  length  than  could  be 
attcmj^ted  in  a  slight  popular  sketch  like  the 
present.  Not  having  leisure  to  undertake  this 
agreeable  task,  which  would  otherwise  please  me 
well,  I  am  obliged  to  let  it  go  with  all  its  imper- 
fections on  its  head. 


Si7  PEEFACE. 

But  to  many  readers  it  may  be  desirable  and 
■useful  that  some  slight  account  should  be  given 
of  the  actual  materials  which  have  now,  by  the 
zealous  labours  of  many  eminent  scholars,  be- 
come available  for  the  due  understanding  of 
that  deeply  interesting  era  which  saw  the  ' '  Re- 
formation," the  great  struggle  between  Irish 
clanship  and  English  feudahsm,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  religious  wars  in  our  island.  First  in 
importance  is  the  great  work  of  John  O'Dono- 
van — his  edition  of  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Mas- 
ters, with  copious  and  learned  notes,  topograph- 
ical, historical,  exegetical.    It  is  true  that  the 
portion  of  those  annals  relating  to  the  period 
embraced  in  this  work  was  substantially  accessi- 
ble to  me  in  the  Library  of  the  Boyal  Irish 
Academy,  in  the  shape  of  the  "M.  S.  Life  of 
O'Donnell,"  often  cited  in  the  following  images. 
This  Life  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  had  been 
written  by  one  of  the  venerable  Four  Masters 
themselves,  Franciscans  of  Donegal  Abbey,  who 
indeed  were  not  only  Annalists  of  the  Island, 
but  especially  histoiiographers  to  the  great  house 
of  O'Donnell ;  and  it  had  afterwards  been  in- 
corporated almost   entirely  in  tlie  "Aunals." 
This  old  M.  S.  however,  Avasbut  ]")oor  '•ompensa- 
tioh  for  the  want  of  i\v^i  raagnific<ait  repertory 
of  Irish  historic  lore,  which  can  Jiow  be  read 


PEEFACE.  XV 

(amply  annotated)  by  everybody,  in  the  volumes 
of  Doctor  O 'Donovan,  and  without  the  study  of 
•which  no  writer  should  undertake  a  piece  of 
Irish  history. 

Another  indispensable  Irish  authority  for  the 
period  in  question  is  the  Historia  Catholica  of 
Don  Phillip  O'SuUivan  (Beare).  A  copy  of  the 
old  Latin  edition  of  this  book  existed  in  tha 
library  of  Trinity  College,  where  I  could  consult 
it  any  length ;  but  since  then  the  work  of  O'Sul- 
livan  also  (which  had  become  very  rare)  has 
been  handsomely  reproduced  in  Ireland.  These 
two,  besides  the  Histoiy  of  the  Abbe  Mac- 
Geoghegan  (in  French),  which  though  not  con- 
temporary, is  an  authority  for  that  time,  were 
the  only  strictly  Irish  sources  from  whence  I 
could  draw. 

Of  authorities  upon  the  English  side,  there 
was  abundance.  The  most  useful  of  these  is 
Camden, — History  of  Queen  Elizabeth," — who 
has  narrated  at  great  length  from  his  own  point 
of  view,  and  not  with  very  gross  unfairness,  the 
whole  of  tliP!  transactions  in  Ireland  during  the 
life  of  Hugh  O'Neill.  Two  exceedingly  valu- 
able books  are  Edmund  Spencer's  *'  View  of  the 
State  of  Ireland,"  and  Sir  John  Davies'  "His- 
torical Tracts."  Each  of  these  books,  though 
composed  with  the  most  virulent  hatred  and  in- 


Xvi  PEEFACE. 

soleuce  towards  the  Irish  nation,  yet  casts  a 
flood  of  light  upon  the  social  condition  of  the 
people,  and  the  policy  of  the  British  Government 
about  the  time  of  that  sad  revolution  which 
transformed  chieftain  and  clansman  into  land- 
lord and  tenant.     The  most  singular  English 
authority,   however,  is  the   Pacata  Hiheraia, 
written  by  Sir  George  Carew,  but  ostensibly  by 
Stafford,  his  secretary.    This  work  is  valuable 
not  only  for  its  documents  and  maps,  but  also 
for  the  very  open  and  shameless  avowal  of  the 
system  of  treachery,  fraud,  and  assassination 
set  on  foot  by  the  wTiter  himself,  and  by  which 
he  was  enabled  to  break  up  the  confederacy  of 
the  Munster  lords. 

The  work  of  Fynes  Moryson  must  not  be 
omitted,  as  his  narrative  covers  almost  the  w^hole 
of  O'Neill's  wars  :  but  he,  though  a  contempor- 
ary writer,  residing  in  Ireland,  and  witness  of 
many  of  the  transactions  he  undertakes  to  nar- 
rate, is  extremely  untrustworthy,  ar,d  needs  cor- 
roboration often,  oftener  contradiction.  These 
books,  with  occasional  reference  to  Cartes'  Life 
of  Ormond,  Captain  Lee's  "Memorial,"  and 
Bishop  Mant's  History  of  the  Irish  Church, 
constituted  the  rather  imperfect  stock  of  author- 
ities- on  which  I  was  bold  enough  to  venture 
ui:)on  the  narrative  of  the   Life  of  the  lust 


PEEFACB,  Xvii 

of  the  Princes  of  Tyrone.  Those  who  may 
hereafter  undertake  to  give  a  fuller  and  better 
account  of  Hugh  O'Neill  and  his  desperate 
struggle  against  English  "  civilization,"  will  have 
a  much  more  extensive  course  of  reading  to  go 
through. 

Besides  the  mighty  tomes  of  O'Donovan's 
Four  Masters,  there  are  numerous  family  histor- 
ies lately  published,  containing  innumerable 
documents  and  letters,  which,  though  not  per- 
haps worth  reading  for  their  own  sake,  yet  often 
give  a  vivid  glimpse  into  the  interior  of  some 
Franco-Hibernian  Castle  or  Scotic  chief fcain's 
stronghold,  shewing  us  the  inmates  as  they 
lived  and  moved  in  those  wild  times.  One  of 
the  most  voluminous  of  these  is  "The  Life  and 
Letters  of  Florence  MacCarthy  Mor  " — who  was 
O'Neill's  slippery  lieutenant  in  Munster.  This 
is  an  octavo  volume  of  over  500  pages  ;  written 
of  course  by  one  of  the  Clan-Caura,  and  certainly 
giving  all  the  details  concerning  that  able  but 
treacherous  chief,  which  the  world  will  ever 
wish  to  know.  Of  other  family  histories  may 
be  named  :  "The  Earls  of  Kildare,"  History  of 
the  O'Briens  of  Thomond,  by  O'Donoghue  ; 
A  ' '  Selection  from  the  Family  Archives  of  tlio 
MacGillicuddy  of  the  Reeks,  by  Maziere  Brady, 
Vicar  of  Donoghpatrick,  &c. 


Xvm  PBEFACE. 

With  regard  to  the  changes  which  took  place 
in  the  possession  of  church  property,  the  sup- 
pression of  monasteries,  and  the  earliest  penal 
laws  for  religion,  many  good  compilations  now 
exist  which  are  of  great  value  to  the  student  ; 
especially  "The  Irish  Reformation ;  or  the 
alleged  conversion  of  the  Irish  bishops  at  the 
accession  of  Queen  Elisabeth,  and  the  assumed 
descent  of  the  present  established  Hierarchy  in 
Ireland  from  the  Ancient  Irish  Church — dis- 
proved "  by  Dr.  Maziere  Brady.  The  author, 
though  a  Protestant  Rector,  takes  part,  unex- 
pectedly, with  the  Irish  Catholic  Church  in  her 
historical  dispute  with  the  Anglicans  touching 
the  descent  of  orders.  His  subject  necessarily 
obliged  him  to  investigate  minutely  the  civil 
transactions  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  Ireland, 
which  accompanied  and  illustrated  the  ecclesi- 
astical changes.  It  has  been  heretofore  insisted 
upon  by  Anglican  writers  that  the  Catholic 
bishops  in  Ireland,  as  a  body,  accepted  the  pre- 
tended reformation  of  Elizabeth  ;  that  the  Irish 
hierarchy,  church  and  nation,  renounced  their 
allegiance  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Roman  Church ;  that  the  apos- 
tolic succession  was  regularly  transmitted  to  the 
Protestant  bishoj^s  of  Ireland,  and  tliat  the  pres- 
ent Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  and  church  were 


PEEFACE.  XIX 

established  de  novo,  in  schismatical  manner,  by 
emissaries  of  the  Pope.  Consequently,  they 
say,  the  Protestant  archbishops  of  Armagh  and 
Dublin  are  the  canonical  successors  of  St.  Pat- 
rick and  St.  Lawrence ;  the  other  Protestant 
bishops  are  also  the  canonical  successors  to  the 
ancient  Catholic  bishops  of  the  sees  they  pre- 
tend to  fill,  the  ecclesiastical  property  legally 
belongs  to  the  Protestant  establishment,  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  bishops  are  intruders  who 
have  drawn  the  majority  of  the  Irish  people  into 
a  schism.  Dr.  Brady  has  laboriously  and  tri- 
umi3hantly  refuted  all  this ;  and  Mr.  Froude,  the 
English  historian,  has  given  his  full  indorse- 
ment to  Dr.  Brady's  statements.  Dr.  Brady 
proves  that,  at  the  most,  two  of  the  Marian 
bishops  submitted  to  Elizabeth — Curwen,  of 
Dublin,  and  OTihil,  of  Leighlin.  Curwin's 
apostacy  is  a  notorious  fact,  but  that  of  O'Fihil 
is  denied  by  Dr.  Moran,  who  adduces  evidence 
against  it.  Curwen  was  an  Englishman,  and 
consecrated  by  English  bishops.  Therefore, 
according  to  Dr.  Brady,  but  one  Irishman,  hav- 
ing Irish  consecration,  deserted  the  communion 
of  the  Pope  for  that  of  the  Queen  and  Parker. 
He  goes  through  all  the  Irish  sees  seriatim,  prov- 
ing the  continuity  of  succession  from  their  an- 
cient to  their  modern  Catholic  incumbents,  and 


X2  PEEFACE. 

proving,  also,  tlie  forcible  intrusion  of  Protest- 
ants by  degrees,  and  with  many  breaks,  into 
the  same  titular  sees.  He  states  the  conclusion 
derived  from  his  facts  and  arguments  thus  :  "In 
point  of  fact,  the  Irish  nation,  from  1558  to 
1867  has  continued  in  communion  with  Rome, 
never  having  ceased  to  be,  in  its  clergy,  priests, 
and  people,  as  thoroughly  Roman  Catholic  as  at 
the  accession  of  Elizabeth,"  (p.  199.)  The  claim 
of  a  succession  of  orders  by  a  line  traceable  to 
the  old  Irish  hierarchy  is  also  disposed  of.  The 
doctor  shows  that  whatever  orders  the  Irish 
Protestant  church  has  are  derived  from  Curwen, 
and  from  him  alone,  through  Loftus,  who  was 
consecrated  by  him  to  Armagh,  and  thence 
transferred  to  Dublin,  in  lieu  of  Curwen  himself 
who  was  transferred  to  Oxford.  Of  course  he 
does  not  deny  the  validity  of  the  orders,  but 
merely  the  fact  that  they  descend  from  an  Irish 
source. 

In  examining  this  canonical  controversy  the 
author  also  sheds  light  upon  the  civil  transac- 
tions ;  and  as  O'Neill  was  holding  his  country 
against  the  English  not  only  as  Prince  of  Ulster, 
but  as  chief  champion  of  the  Catholic  religion 
in  Ireland,  the  eccle3iastical  affairs  of  the  period 
are  altogether  relevant,  and  needful  for  a  due  un- 
derstanding of  O'Neill's  true  cause  and  position. 


PBKFACE.  XXI 

With  the  same  view  the  works  of  Dr.  Moran 
of  Dublin,  especially  his  ArcIibisJiops  of  Buhliny 
as  well  as  the  Church  Histories  of  Dr.  Lanigan, 
Father  Brenan,  O.  S.  F.,  and  Father  A.  Cogan 
of  Navan  [History  of  the  Diocese  of  Meath] 
must  all  be  consulted. 

Amongst  other  needful  authorities,  or  compi- 
lations to  be  consulted,  must  be  mentioned  sev- 
eral excellent  papers  in  the  Ulster  Archoeological 
Journal,  Shirley's  Original  Letters,  State  papers, 
both  in  London  and  Dublin,  some  of  which  have 
been  published ;  and  lastly,  and  especially,  the 
late  admirable  book  of  Father  Meehan  of  Dub- 
lin, The  Fate  and  Fortunes  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  Earl 
of  Tyrone,  and  Hugh  O'Donnell,  Earl  of  Tyrcon- 
nell;  their  Flight,  Vicissitudes  and  Death  in 
Exile.  Mr.  Meehan,  indeed,  professes  to  take  up 
the  narrative  where  this  present  writer  has 
dropped  it :  yet  he  has  supplied  much  authen- 
tic information  with  regard  to  the  chief's  last 
campaign,  his  surrender  at  Mellifont,  his  visit 
to  England,  his  life  in  his  own  country  after- 
wards, the  conspiracy  for  his  destruction,  his 
escape  from  the  toils  of  his  enemies,  his  wander- 
ings in  Europe,  his  i)lans  for  return  and  his 
death  in  Rome — all  of  which,  for  want  of  space, 
and  also  in  part  for  want  of  authorities,  had 
to  be  passed  over  lightly  in  the  unpretending 


XXn  PREFACE. 

little  volume  called,  ' '  Life  of  Hugh  O'Neill. "  It 
may  be  added  that  Mr.  Meehan  has  given  us,  by 
way  of  episode,  a  seperate  chapter,  from  an  ear- 
lier period  of  the  Prince's  life,  his  courtship  and 
marriage — the  romance  of  the  beautiful  Mabel 
Bagnal,  sister  of  his  enemy,  the  Marshal. 

It  is  needless  here  to  speak  of  the  ancient 
Irish  manuscripts  and  precious  materials  of  our 
history  as  enumerated,  classified  and  described 
in  the  great  work  of  Eugene  O'Curry:  for  aU 
these  documents,  except  the  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters,  stop  short  of  the  time  of  O'Neill's 
wars,  and  this  has  no  pretension  to  be  a  general 
bibliography  of  Irish  History,  but  only  a  sketch 
of  the  field  to  be  investigated  by  any  one  who 
shall  hereafter  aspire  to  write  a  Life  of  O'Neill 
which  may  be  worthy  of  the  subject ;  as  the 
present  volume  is  not.  Nobody  can  be  more 
sensible  of  this  than  the  writer  ;  who  undertook 
it  in  j)art  to  gratify  a  dear  friend,  and  in  part  to 
aid  more  or  less  in  the  awakening  of  the  minds 
of  Irish  young  men  to  the  dignity  and  im- 
portance of  the  history  of  their  own  native 
island. 

That  it  has  had  some  share  of  influence  in  that 
direction  I  am  hapi^y  to  believe.         J.  M. 

•  Fordham,  N.  Y.          St.  Patrick's  Day,  1868. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


CHAPTER  L 

CON  THE  LAME,  AND  HIS  TIMES. 

A.  D.  15C'5_1550. 

WuEN  Con  O^TsTeill,  surnamed  Baccc  ^h,  reigned 
33  Ulster,  the  far  greater  portion  of  this  island 
owed  no  allegiance  and  paid  no  obedience  to  the 
king  or  laws  of  England.  More  than  two  hun- 
dred years  had  gone  by  since  the  northern  Irish, 
aided  by  Edward  Bruce  of  Scotland,  had  de- 
stroyed every  vestige  of  foreign  dominion  in 
Ulster  ;  and  the  few  Anglo-Norman  families  tliat 
liad  got  footing  there,  under  De  Courcy  ind  De 
Lacy,  were  long  since,  by  intermarriage,  gossi- 
pred,  and  fostering,  blended  with  tlie  Irish  tribes 
used  Irish  customs,  disdained  to  ride  with  stir 
rups,  wore  crommeal  and  coolun,  submitted  tc 
the  Brehon  laws,  forgot  vassalage,  and  liege-bo- 
mage,  and  all  feudal  tenure,  wliether  by  kright 
service,  esouage,  or  otlier, — nay,  forgot  their 
lfinaiiae;e  and  tlieir  verv  names.    Like  tlie  Be? 


14 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O  NEILL. 


mingbams  and  De  Burgos  of  Connaiighl,  who 
beofiine  Mac  Feorais  and  Mac  Williams,  Eighter 
and  Ougbter,  sorae  writers  will  have  it  that  the 
llRTighty  Mac  Mahons  of  Monaghan,  with  all 
tbeir  fierce  resistance  to  English  laws  and  Eng- 
lish sheriffs,  were  no  more  than  so  many  Norman 
Fitzurses  ; — true  Sons  of  Bears,  and  claiming 
that  descent  both  in  their  original  langue  d'oui 
and  their  adcjjted  Irish.  And  the  Mac  Swynes, 
from  be /ond  Lough  Swilly,  sent  yearly  their  tri- 
bute of  cows  to  O'Donnell,  never  demurring  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  a  branch  of  the 
knightly  De  Veres  of  Oxford.* 

So  atstractive  and  genial  was  that  Irish  life  of 
pastoral  independence,  and  "  strenuous  liberty 
so  kindly  the  Irish  affections ;  so  honey-sweet 
the  Celtic  accents  on  the  tongue  of  foster-nurses 
and  Irish  maidens  : — "  which,"  says  Edmund 
Spenser,  "  are  two  most  dangerous  infections 
for  "  The  sp<^xch  being  Irish,  the  bcart  must 
needes  bee  Irish,'* 

Lq^ws,  indeed,  were  ficm  time  to  time  enacte,2 
by  the  small  l^^nglish  colony  of  Leinster,  in  their 
local  parliament,  to  forbid  all  such  friendly  deal- 

"*  Spenser's  "View  of  the  State  of  Ireland,*'  p.  108. 
But  the  Jrisii  aniialists  (probably  abetter  authority)  make 
both  these  famihes  old  Irish.  Mac  Mahon  is  said  to  have 
been,  like  tlie  JNIac  Guires  and  O'llanlons,  descended 
from  Colla-na-Clirich  of  the  race  of  Ileremon.  (See 
Connellan's  "  Four  Masters,"  note  in  p.  3.)  For  the 
Mac  Swynes  or  Mac  Sweenys,  said  to  be  a  branch  of  th« 
aorth,  Hy  Niall,  see  the  same  book,  p.  52  ;  yet  Thi- 
erry and  otlier  writers  liave  adopted  Spenser's  statemeni 
|i)Ottt  these  two  faniiiies. — Noruian  Con.  Conclusion, 


1 


Live,  OF  HUG II  O'NEILL.. 


15 


ingg  witTi  the  "  Irish  enemy,"  under  penalties; 
jitatutes  wliich  sounded  terrible  in  Kilkenny  and 
Dublin,  but  were  of  no  force  in  the  Irish  coun- 
try, where  the  "  degenerate"  PLnglish  soon  learned 
to  forget  the  tongue  in  which  those  statutes  were 
expressed,  and  to  despise  the  authority  that  had 
presumed  to  enact  them. 

Yet  there  was,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  no 
Irish  nation.  They  had  no  national  council,  as 
of  old ;  no  supreme  monarch  or  Ard-Righ,  to 
concentrate  the  powers  of  the  island  for  any  com- 
mon object.  Save  the  tie  of  a  common  language, 
the  chieftain  of  Clan-Conal  had  no  more  con- 
nexion with  the  lord  of  Clan-Carrha,  than  either 
had  with  the  English  Pale.  The  Anglo-Norman 
colony  was  regarded  rather  as  one  of  the  inde- 
pendent tribes  of  the  ishmd  ;  "  an  inferior  sept,"* 
often  a  tributary  sept,|  which  had  got  settled 
there  ;  than  what  it  really  was,  a  garrison  holding 
for  a  foreign  king,  the  insidious  enemy  of  them 
all :  and  the  Irish  in  their  frequent  wars  amongst 
themselves,  sometimes  had  the  troops  of  the  Pale, 
as  well  as  the  powerful  Scottish  colony  of  An- 
trim for  auxiliaries  on  one  side  or  the  other. 

Frequently  tiie  English  carried  the  banners  of 
the  Pale  into  some  Irish  country  with  which  they 
were  then  at  war;  burning  and  plundering  in 
their  march,  until  a  force  could  be  drawn  together 
strong  enougli  to  drive  them  home  :  and  as  often 
'vere  the  war-cries  of  an  O'Neill  or  an  O'Connor 

•  Lcland,  vol.  2,  p.  a3. 

t  State  Papers,  Temp.  Hen.  VIII.  cited  in  O'Conaell's 
Afemoir. 


1Q  IjIFE         HUGH  O'NEILL.. 

feeard  at  the  Boyne  and  LifFev,  to  the  very  gatcji 
Dublin  ;  while  the  English  were  shut  up 
Everywhere  in  their  castles  and  walled  towns 
until  the  black  rent  was  levied  and  the  storm 
had  passed.  But,  save  in  the  four  counties  of 
the  Pale  and  a  few  maritime  cities,  there  was  no 
attempt  at  the  exercise  of  either  legislative  oc 
executive  authority  on  the  part  of  the  English 
government. 

The  tltrone  of  England  was  filled  by  King 
Henry  the  Eighth,  who  styled  himself  King  of 
England,  France^  and  Ireland; — of  France  in 
virtue  of  the  town  of  Calais,  and  of  Ireland,  be- 
cause of  those  bands  of  his  adventurous  subjects 
who  garrisoned  the  Pale.  But  Henry  was  not 
satisfied  with  temporal  sovereignty.  Like  the 
Roman  emperors,  he  determined  to  unite  in  his 
own  person  all  authority  of  every  kind,  and  to 
be  acknowledged  Pontifex  maximus.  His  par 
liament  hnd,  without  scruple,  bestowed  on  him 
the  supreme  Headship  of  the  Church  ;  never 
doubting  their  power  to  give  it:  for  the  legisla- 
ture of  England  has  always  regulated  its  ^'ellgic:., 
pronouncing  this  way  or  that  upon  true  doctriv  e. 
like  an  oscumenic  ''louncil,  and  deciding  upon  the 
successorship  to  tUt.  'Dostles  with  no  more  hesi- 
tation than  on  the  rivul  claims  to  a  disputed 
peerage. 

And  having  established  his  spiritual  supremacy 
in  England,  and  desiring  to  encroach  furtlier 
upon  the  jurisdiction  of  his  rival  the  pope,  King 
Henry  caused  an  act  to  be  passed  in  his  parlia- 
ment of  the  Pale,  duly  enacting  the  supremacy 
of  the  En;^lish  king  ov^r  the  church  -jf  Ireland— 


LIFE  OF  RUCH  O  NEILI., 


17 


'*  forasmuch/'  say  those  legislators,  "  as  Ireland 
was  depending  and  belonging  justly  and  right- 
fully to  the  imperial  crown  of  England."  And 
so  began  the  "  Reformation"  in  this  island. 

Here  a  difficulty  arose,  or  rather  several  diffi- 
culties ;  for  tlie  claim  of  England  to  govern  this 
country  had  always  been  held  to  rest  upon  that 
surprising  grant  of  Pope  Adrian  IV.,  which 
conferred  Ireland  upon  Henry  the  Second  as  a 
fief ;  and  to  deny  the  papal  authority  was  to  de- 
stroy the  only  title  which  the  crown  of  England 
had  ever  pretended  over  this  island ;  whereby 
hangs  a  controversy,  partly  political,  partly  theo- 
logical, which  greatly  agitated  the  pedants  of  both 
countries  at  that  period  ;  but  is  interesting  now 
neither  to  gods  nor  men.  Yet  for  the  clear  un 
derstanding  of  some  terms  which  must  often 
occur  in  the  following  story,  we  may  refer  to 
the  argument  for  English  dominion  used  by 
one  of  its  most  learned  advocates.  "  Whatso- 
ever become,"  says  Archbishop  Ussher,*  "  of 
the  pope's  idle  challenges,  the  crown  of  England 
hath  otherwise  obtained  an  undoubted  right  unto 
the  sovereignty  of  this  country ;  partly  by  con- 
quest, prosecuted  at  first  upon  occasion  of  a  social 
war,  partly  by  the  several  submissions  of  the 
chieftains  of  the  land  made  afterwards.  For 
whereas  it  is  free  for  all  men,  although  tliey  hafe 
been  formerly  quit  from  all  subjection,  to  re- 
nounce their  own  riglit,  yet  now,  in  tliese  oui 
days  (saith  Giraldus  Canibrensis  in  his  History 
of  the  Conquest  of  Ireland)  all  the  princes  <| 

•  Religion  of  the  ancient  Irisli* 

B 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  0*NE1LL. 


Ireland  did  voluntarily  submit,  and  bind  tliei\ 
selves  with  firm  bonds  of  f\iith  and  oath  unto 
Henry  the  Second,  king  of  England." 

On  which  "  submissions"  we  remark,  first,  that 
the  same  Henry  the  Second  did,  with  firm  bonds 
of  faith  and  oath,  submit  and  perform  homage  to 
Louis  the  Seventh  of  France ;  and  "  with  head 
uncovered  and  belt  ungirt,  with  sword  and  spurs 
removed,  he  placed  his  hands,  kneeling,  between 
those  of  the  lord,  and  promised  to  become  his 
man  from  thenceforward,  and  to  serve  him  with 
life  and  limb  and  worldly  honour,  faithfully  and 
loyally  ;"* — that  King  Edward  the  Third,  in 
like  humble  guise,  did  homage  at  the  feet  of  an- 
other French  sovereign  ; — but  tliat  those  two 
English  kings  were  engaged  in  endless  wars  with 
those  very  suzerains  :  and  never  incurred  thereby 
the  charge  of  perfidy  or  rebellion.^  And  the 
second  remark  is,  that  such  submissions,  by  alw 
Irish  chieftain,  either  in  the  twelfth  oi*  any  other 
century,  were  not  only  a  mere  form,  but  had  no 

♦  Eopform  of  Liege-homage,  see  HaUam,  Mid.  Ages, 
vol.  ],  p.  176. 

f  No  doubt  it  was  as  peers  of  France,  not  as  kings  of 
England,  they  did  homage  to  the  French  king ;  but  they 
made  war  upon  him  in  both  capacities,  and  with  all  the 
power  of  all  their  dominions,  insular  and  continental. 
Hallam  explains  the  law  of  the  case,  and  Thierry  the 
rationale  of  it.  The  former  says,  "  It  was  always  ne- 
cessary for  a  vassal  to  renounce  his  homage,  before  he 
made  war  on  his  lord."  (Mid.  Ages,  vol.  1,  p.  176,  note.) 
And  Tliierry  informs  us  that  obligations  of  tlus  kin^ 
"  were  very  vague  in  their  tenor,  and  were  mostly  takea 
w\i\\  a  bad  grace,  and  in  some  sort  as  a  mere  matter  o4 
torm." — W  hi  taker's  edition,  161 


LIFE   OP  HUGH  c'NtliLL. 


1) 


force  or  signilicance  even  as  a  form :  because 
those  chiefs  were  not,  themselves,  feudal  lords- 
they  had  neither  fiefs  nor  vassals :  like  the  lead 
€rs  of  the  ancient  Franks,  they  were  the  elected 
captains  of  a  tribe  of  freemen  ;  and  could  not, 
by  donning  the  coronet  and  robes  of  a  foreign 
noble,  change  their  countrymen  into  the  subjects 
of  an  alien  prince,  nor  involve  them  in  that  great 
feudal  system,  which,  like  every  other  form  of 
national  polity  must  grow  with  a  people's  growth, 
and  weave  itself,  in  the  "  Loom  of  Time"  out  of 
the  very  elements  of  its  being. 

But  enough  of  this  technical  disquisition.  As 
Henry  was  not  free  in  conscience,  to  have  and  to 
hold  under  the  pope  any  longer,  he  caused  his 
Parliament  of  the  Pale,  in  the  year  1542,  to  de- 
clare him  "  King  of  Ireland"  in  his  own  right, 
the  first  English  monarch  who  assumed  that  title  : 
and  in  the  same  year,  at  his  palace  of  Greenwich, 
was  beheld  a  not&ble  thing, — the  O'Neill  of  Ul- 
ster submitting  iiimself  as  liege-man  to  an  Eng- 
lish king, — renounCi.''g  the  royal  name  of  O'Neill, 
"  in  comparison  of  which,"  says  Camden,  "  the 
very  title  of  Caesar  is  contemptible  in  Ireland,"* 
— taking  upon  him  the  barbarian  Anglo-Saxon 
title  of  Jarl^  or  Earl,  of  Tyrone  ;  and  doing  ho- 
mage to  Henry  as  King  of  Ireland  and  Head  of 
the  Church ;  who  on  his  side  adorned  him  with 
a  golden  chain,  saluted  him  beloved  cousin,  "  an^ 
so  returned  him  richly  plated."f 

And  now  we  first  hear  of  Matthew  O'NeiH 

•  Camden,  2  Ehz. 

\  Campion,  "  Historie  of  Ireland,"  p.  161. 


20 


T-IJE   OF  HUGH  O'.N'EILL. 


Con'^  son,  (or  reputed  son,  for  in  Ireland  he  was 
believed  to  be  the  offspring  of  a  smith  of  Duq- 
dalk,)  called  by  the  Irish  Fardoragli,  but  passing 
at  Greenwich  under  the  outlandish  style  of  Baron 
Dungannon,  a  title  wh'^h  he  dearly  rued. 

Nor  are  the  O'NeiKs  alone  in  their  strange  ho- 
nours. Mac  Gilla  Phadruig  becomes  Fitzpatrick, 
and  Baron  of  Upper  Ossory.  The  O'Brien  of 
Thomond,  forgetful  of  the  glories  of  Kincora, 
lays  down  at  Henry's  feet  his  dignity  of  Chief 
Dal-Cais,  and  arises  Earl  of  Thomond  ;  his  son, 
Baron  of  Inis-Hy-Quin  ;  his  nephew,  Baron  of 
Ibracken,  by  "  letters  patent,"  with  broad  seal  of 
Kngland,  with  official  ceremonial  of  Garter-king, 
and  the  rest ;  with  remainders,  expectancies,  es- 
tates tail  and  other  jargon  of  English  law,  por- 
tentous in  the  ears  of  Filea  and  Brehon. 

The  southern  chiefs,  indeed,  had  a  more  sub* 
stantial  reward  for  their  complaisance  than  those 
empty  dignities  of  earl  and  baron.  The  revenues 
of  all  the  suppressed  abbeys  of  Thomond  with 
patronage  of  church  livings,  were  annexed  to 
their  lordships,  and  so  was  upheld  the  respectabi- 
lity of  the  peerage.  For  in  those  years  there  wag 
a  sweeping  "  suppression"  in  progress,  of  all  reli- 
gious houses  in  that  part  of  the  island  which  was 
under  the  control  of  the  new  Head  of  the  Church  ; 
and  many  of  the  local  princes,  who  could  well 
have  defied  his  power,  were  content  to  sacrifice 
the  ancient  monasteries  endowed  by  their  ances- 
tors, to  the  reforming  rage  of  Henry,  on  condition 
of  themselves  receiving  the  spoiL  The  fair  pos- 
sessions of  abbeys  and  priories  were  therefore 
ieft  almos*  invariabl^i^  in  the  hands  of  their  nelgb 


LIFE   OF   HUGH  0*NEIIiL. 


21 


boviring  lords,  and  seem  to  have  been  the  stipu*' 
lated  price  of  their  servile  allegiance ;  so  that 
even  George  Browne,  the  king's  archbishop  of 
Dublin,  could  not  by  most  diligent  suit  obtain  for 
his  own  share  the  single  nunnery  of  Grace  Dieu, 
nor  even  "  a  very  poor  house  of  friars,"  called 
New  Abbey,  "  a  house  of  the  obstinates'  religion 
which  lay  very  commodious  for  him  by  Bally- 
more."  They  were  both  destined  for  other  claim- 
ants who  had  earned  them  worthily. 

In  all  Ireland  were  at  that  time  three  hundred 
and  seventy  of  such  establishments,  of  various 
orders,  where  the  religious  passed  a  life  of  devo- 
tional retirement,  feeding  the  poor,  entertaining 
strangers,  and  tending  the  sick,  for  no.  earthly 
reward,  but  for  love  of  blessed  charity,  and  the 
health  of  their  founders'  souls. 

There  was  abundance  of  plunder  in  every  pro- 
vince for  those  who  would  renounce  their  faith 
and  betray  their  country.  But  Con  O'Neill,  to 
his  honour  be  it  said,  understood  not  the  power 
of  his  new  suzerain,  whether  regal  or  spiritual,  to 
extend  so  far ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  say  how  far  he 
was  willing  to  admit  such  power.  For  this  was 
the  same  chief  who  had  formerly  cursed  his  ofF- 
ipring  if  they  should  ever  speak  the  Saxon 
tongue,  sow  corn,  or  build  houses  in  imitation  of 
the  English,  and  who,  to  demonstrate  his  viewt 
of  Henry's  Headsliip,  had  on  the  fii-st  rumour  of 
*' R(ir()i'iri!iti()ii"  led  lii.s  ti'oops  to  tlie  soutli,  burned 
Atherdcf'  and  iS'nvan  to  th(}  ground,  and  from 
the  hill  of"  Tai'ah  warned  off  the  servile  nobles  of 
the  Pale  and  their  reforming  deputy  far  from  the 
frontiers  of  Ulster. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  oVeILL. 


Wliilc  Con   therefore,  held  the  chieftaincy 
Tyr-ov^en,  and  long  after,  the  monasteries  of  hif 
country  stood  secure.    Though  formally  "giver 
and  granted"  to  King  Henry  along  with  the  reli' 
gious  houses  of  other  provinces,  by  those  who  had 
no  title  either  to  give  or  to  grant,  yet  the  com- 
missioners appointed  to  reduce  them  into  chatge 
did  not  proceed  (for  excellent  reasons)  to  hoh 
the  usual  inquest  on  their  possessions,  to  inven 
tory  their  chattels  and  ornaments,  or  expel  thei 
peaceful  inhabitants  ;  and  for  seventy  years  afte 
the  "  suppression"  the  monks  of  Donegal,  Kilma 
crenan,  and  RathmuUan,   of  Deny,  Dungiven 
Coleraine,  and  Dungannon,  under  the  sheltering 
power  of  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  "  escaped,"  says 
the  Abbe  Mac  Geoghegan,  "  the  sacrilegious  fury 
of  the  heretics  :"  or  as  the  same  fact  is  stated  by 
the  Presbyterian  historian,*  the  abbeys  tliough 
long  since  suppressed,  "  were  not  resumed  into 
the  hands  of  the  king,  nor  tlieir  useless  inmates 
expelled  until  the  reign  of  James  the  First." 

Yet  the  northern  Irish  liked  not  the  new  ear], 
nor  liis  honours,  however  unencumbered  by  foreign 
laws  and  usages.  The  bards  of  Ulster  had  no 
songs  of  praise  for  the  obsequious  liegeman  of  a 
foreign  prince.  O'Donnell  refused  to  send  liini 
his  customary  tribute  for  Inis-Owen  :  Mac  Guire 
of  Fc'inanagh  thought  scorn  to  be  tlie  Uriaghl 
of  such  an  O'  Neill  as  this  ;  and  Con  Baccagfi 
soon  found  tliat  lie  was  no  longer  the  prince  of 
the  North,  and  must  speedily  give  place  to  wor- 

'  Dr.  lleid,  "  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  ?n 
Ireland,"  voL  1,  p.  77- 


LIFE   Ol*'   HUGH  (/NEILTL.. 


24 


tMer  scions  of  that  t..iu<int  stock;  who  happily 
were  not  wanting. 

For,  unmir.dful  of  court  intrigue,  and  little 
versed  in  the  lore  of  Saxon  heraldry,  there  was, 
growing  up  to  manhood,  amongst  the  hills  of 
Ulster,  another  son  of  Con  ;  one  of  the  proudetrt 
and  fiercest  O'Neills  that  had  appeared  there  since 
he  of  theNineHostages  ;  and  his  name  was  Shane. 
Chasing  the  wolf  and  deer  with  his  foster-bre- 
thren in  the  forests  of  Tyr-owen,  and  by  the 
shores  of  the  lake  of  Feval ;  learning  from  the 
lips  of  bard  and  seanaghy  the  ancient  glorjrc 
and  achievements  of  the  Hy-Nial,  this  Shaiu- 
had  grown  to  believe,  with  all  his  soul,  that  the 
Kinel-Eoghain  were  the  hero-race  most  favoured 
by  heaven  ;  that  Tyr-owen  was  the  eye  of  Erin, 
and  the  very  pride  of  the  earth  :  and  that  of  all 
noble  and  royal  titles  of  honour  and  sovereignty, 
by  fjir  the  most  dread  and  illustrious  was  "  The 
O'Neill." 

And  behold!  just  as  the  impetuous  youth  has 
readied  manhood,  and  feels  within  him  the 
strength  and  fiery  spirit  to  uphold  the  honour  of 
his  race,  that  proud  name  is  to  be  extinguished. 
The  golden  collar  of  an  O'Neill,  the  sacred  chair 
of  Tullogh-oge,  are  to  be  made  of  no  account ; 
lost  or  forgotten  in  these  unheard-of  peerages 
of  the  straiiLTT.  By  the  soul  of  Con  More  !  By 
the  awful  gi  avo  of  Caille  Nial !  this  must  not  be. 
Let  his  father  plume  himself  in  his  foreign  fea- 
thers :  let  tlie  bastard  Matthew  maintain,  as  best 
he  may,  his  "  estate  tail"  and  coronet  of  Dungan- 
non  ;  he,  Shane,  will  be  an  O'Neill : — The 
O'Neill  ;  for  the  clansmen  of  Tyr-owen,  as 


24  LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEIUL. 

men  are  wont  to  do,  soon  found  out  the  man  who 
was  fit  to  be  their  chief. 

It  were  long  to  tell,  how  the  younger  brethren 
of  Shane  stood  by  him  for  the  honour  of  Tvr- 
owen  ;  how  the  bards  espoused,  as  ever,  the 
cause  of  nationhood,  and  with  harp  and  voice 
kindled  the  ancient  spirit  of  Erin  ;  how  there 
was  war  in  Ulster  till  the  Baron  of  Dungannon 
fell  (by  treachery  say  English  chroniclers)  ;  how 
Con  the  Lame  recognized  his  true  son,  and  re- 
pented him  of  his  base  homaging  and  his  foreign 
earldom ;  and  how,  at  last,  the  haughty  Shane 
sat  upon  the  chair  of  Stone,  was  invested  with 
the  white  wand  of  sovereignty,  and  duly  made 
*he  O'Neill,  and  Prince  of  Tyr-owen. 

Baron  Matthew,  as  we  said,  fell :  whether  by 
treachery  or  on  battle  field,  certain  it  is,  in  the 
course  of  that  war  he  lost  both  life  and  coronet : — • 
"  a  lusty  horseman,  well-beloved,  and  a  tried 
aouldiour,"*  but  no  match  for  the  ardent  and  re- 
solute Shane.  For  that  generation,  the  blood  of 
the  Dundalk  smith,  was  not  to  prevail ;  but,  in 
the  halls  of  Dungannon,  Matthew  left  an  infant 
son,  one  Aodh,  or  Hugh,  who  goes  a  fostering 
among  the  English  and  is  "  preserved  by  them 
from  Shane,"f  (not  without  a  politic  design,)  and 
disappears  for  a  season. 

Campion,     Ilistorie  cf  Ireland,"  p.  189L 
I  ]Moryson. 


LiFE  OF  HUGH  O^NELLL. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SHANE  THE  PROUD  AND  THE  IlEFOIlMATIO^» 

A.  D.  1550—1567. 

The  "  Reformation"  was  meanwhile  proceeding 
vigorously  in  the  English  colony  ;  and  the  his- 
tory of  Ireland,  from  the  period  at  which  we  have 
opened  its  page,  is  so  deeply  coloured  by  that 
event  and  its  consequences,  that  frequent  refe- 
rence to  its  course  and  progress  is  essential  to 
clearness  of  narrative. 

On  the  archiepiscopal  chair  of  St.  Laurence 
O'Toole,*  sat  one  George  Browne,  an  apostate 
(or  reformed)  friar  ;  raised  to  that  eminence  by 
the  King  of  England,  in  the  exercise  of  his  pon- 
tifical supremacy ;  and  to  him,  with  four  other 
persons,  was  directed  in  the  thirtieth  year  oi 
King  Henry,  a  commission  "  to  investigate,  in- 
quire, and  search  out  where,  within  the  said  land 
of  Ireland,  there  were  any  notable  images  or 
reliques,  at  which  the  simple  people  of  the  said 
Lord  tlie  King  were  wont  superstitiously  to  meet 
together  *  *  and  that  they  should  break 
in  pieces,  deform,  and  bear  away  the  same,  so  that 
no  fooleries  of  this  kind  might  thenceforth  fo¥ 


•  Properly  Lorcan  O'Tuathail. 


26 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


ever  be  in  nse  in  the  said  land :"  a  commissioR 
which  was  executed,  wherever  the  English  power  ^ 
extended,  with  all  the  zeal  that  religion  and  ra* 
pacity  could  both  inspire. 

The  Report  of  these  commissioners  is  still  ex- 
tant, one  of  the  most  singular  statements  of  ac- 
count on  record  ;  in  which  they  specify  the  pro- 
r^'wrty,  "  by  virtue  of  the  commission  of  the  lord 
tae  king  aforesaid,  into  the  hands  of  the  lord 
the  king,  taken  and  appraised,  and  by  the 
before-recited  title  sold."  £326  2s.  \\d.  is 
stated  to  be  "  the  price  of  divers  pieces  of  gold 
and  silver,  in  mass  and  bullion,  and  also  of  cer- 
tain precious  stones  set  in  gold  and  silver,  and  of 
silver  ornaments  and  other  things  upon  divers 
images,  pictures,  and  reliques."  Three  cathe- 
dral churches,  St.  Patrick's  Dublin,  Leighlin,  and 
Ferns,  with  many  monasteries,  priories,  parish 
churches  and  chapels,  are  stated  to  have  been 
stripped.  "  The  price  of  divers  vases,  jewels,  and 
ornaments  of  gold  and  silver,  and  bells,  and  the 
utensils  and  household  stuff  of  superstitious  build- 
ings," is  set  down  at  £1710  2s.  Od.  and  "one 
thousand  pounds  of  wax,  manufactured  into  can- 
dles, tapers,  images,  and  pictures,"  produced  £20.* 

So  far  the  material  reform  had  been  effected, 
but  on  the  death  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  the  doc- 
trinal revolution  was  to  begin  in  good  earnest. 
Somerset,  the  Protector,  was  a  Zuinglian  :  and 
under  the  advice  of  Cranmer,  (who  was  a  Zuin- 

•  Original  account  in  the  Record- Office,  Custom- 
Ilouse,  DubUn,  cited  in  Dr.  Mant's  "History  of  t\\9 
rijurch  of  Ireland,"  p  '63. 


MFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL.  27 

►lian  also,  from  the  moment  of  King  Henry's 
death,)  it  was  resolved  in  his  councils  to  make  a 
aiore  strenuous  effort  for  establishing  the  Refor- 
nation  in  Ireland.  In  furtherance  of  that  object, 
Sir  Edward  Bellingham  was  sent  over,  a  very 
singular  apostolic  missionary,  "  with  600  horse 
^nd  400  foot."  An  "  order  of  council"  was  issued, 
enjoining  the  use  of  a  new  Liturgy.  And  shortly 
after  one  Bale  Avas  appointed  by  the  king  to  the 
bishopric  of  Ossory,  a  bold  and  uncompromising 
reformer,  who  was  not  content,  like  the  king's  bi- 
shops in  general,  to  reside  in  Dublin,  under  the 
shelter  of  the  castle,  but  proceeded  at  once  to  Kil- 
Kenny,  and  undertook  his  charge.  A  most  re- 
markable "  Vocacyon,"  as  he  calls  it,  was  this 
episcopal  visit  of  Dr.  Bale  to  his  diocese,  and  may 
serve  as  an  instance  of  the  method  in  which  the 
Church  of  Ireland  was  to  be  reformed. 

The  new  bishop  being  ignorant  of  Irish,  and 
most  of  his  clergy,  with  all  their  flocks,  ignorant 
of  English,  his  preaching  though  never  so  ener- 
getic, could  have  little  effect  upon  such  a  diocese. 
Therefore  he  ordered  his  servants  to  invade  the 
churches,  to  pull  down  the  images  and  pictures, 
and  to  destroy  the  vestments  and  ornaments 
wliich  savoured  of  popery.  The  people  of  Kil- 
kenny boro  tlif.  piv.uching  very  well,  so  long  as 
they  did  not  understand  it ;  but  there  wfis  no 
mistaking  such  conduct  as  this.  They  rose  against 
him,  killed  five  of  his  servants  before  his  face, 
and  he  himself  hardly  escaped.  As  he  relates  tlio 
t.ory  himsell":  "I  preached  the  gospel  of  the 
knowledge  and  riglit  invocation  of  God.  I  main- 
<aiiie,d  the  political  order  by  doctrine  and  moved 


28 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


tlie  commons  to  obey  th^ir  magistrates.  But 
when  I  once  sought  to  destroy  the  idolatries,  and 
dissolve  the  hypocrites  yokes,  then  followed 
angers,  slanders,  conspiracies,  and  in  the  end  the 
slaughter  of  moii."* 

Hitherto  the  religious  innovations  had  been 
confined  within  very  narrow  limits ;  and  in  the 
North  the  alarm  of  them  was  not  yet  heard. 
Two  clergymen,  indeed,  named  Dowdall  and 
Goodacre,  had  been  successively  appointed  the 
nominal  (or  titular)  archbishops  of  Armagh  by 
Henry  the  Eighth  and  Edward  the  Sixth  ;  but 
they  scarcely  appear  to  have  visited  their  diocese, 
and  certainly  attempted  no  reformation  there. 
The  former  of  these,  though  not  appointed  by  the 
provision  of  the  pope,  was  a  stanch  Catholic, 
and  upon  the  death  of  Henry,  zealously  resisted 
any  change  of  doctrine  or  practice  in  the  church. 
Though  a  king's  bishop,  he  did  not  shift  and  veer, 
as  was  expected,  with  the  Court  religion  of  the 
day  ;  and  for  his  contumacy  in  that  respect,  the 
new  English  pontiff,  in  October,  1551,  issued  a 
bull,  (or,  "  letters  patent,"  as  it  was  termed,) 
gravely  depriving  Dowdall,  and  the  see  of  Ar- 
magh, of  the  Primacy  of  Ireland,  and  conferring 
that  dignity  upon  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  and 
his  successors  ;f  in  acknowledgment  of  the  ser- 
vices of  Browne,  who  better  knew  the  duties  of  a 
court  bishop. 

But  all  \hese  arrangements  were  unheard  of  or 

Vocacyon  of  John  Bale  to  the  bishopric  of  Os» 

bory." 

t  Wartei,  An.  l.a^,  folio 


lilFE  OF  HUGH  O  NEILL. 


29 


liisregarded  in  Ulster.  The  Coarba  of  St.  Pa- 
trick still  sat  upon  the  archiepiscopal  throne  of 
Armagh ;  and  the  sees  of  the  North,  protected 
by  the  O'Neills  and  O'Donnells,  and  ruled  by  the 
primates  Cromer  and  Waucop,  long  continued 
Croe  from  invasion  by  the  barbarian  mission- 
aries of  England.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Leland, 
the  people,  removed  beyond  the  sphere  of 
English  law,  had  not  known  or  not  regarded 
the  ordinances  lately  made  with  respect  to  re- 
ligion, nor  considered  themselves  as  interested 
or  concerned  in  any  regulations  hereafter  to  be 
made."* 

Shane  O'Neill  troubled  himself  little  about  the 
*'  Reformation"  so  long  as  it  kept  far  from  his 
borders.  There  was  work  enough  for  him  to  do 
at  home.  O'Rielly  of  Cavan  dared  to  question 
the  supremacy  of  O'Neill,  and  had  to  be  brought 
to  reason  by  a  fierce  inroad  and  a  bloody  defeat. 
The  chief  of  Tyrconnell  was  a  more  Ibrmidable 
antagonist.  The  O'Donnells  had  long  rivalled 
in  power  their  kindred  tribe  of  Tyr-owen ;  had 
reduced  some  of  the  tributary  chieftains,  former 
Uriaghts  of  the  O'Neill,  under  their  own  sway ; 
had  wrested  from  the  Kinel-owen  their  ancient 
territory  of  Innishowen  for  which  O'Donnell  paid 
tribute  to  O'Neill,  though  always  with  reluctance  ; 
and  sometimes  he  set  tlie  prince  of  Ulster  at  de- 
fiance and  denied  the  tribute  altogether  :  which 
had  in  former  days  produced  furious  wars,  ancl 
that  famous  diplomatic  correspondence — empba 
tic  protocols,  breaking  off  with  signilicant  apos* 


•  Leland,  "  Hist,  of  Ireland,"  vol.  2,  p.  194. 


80 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O  NEILL. 


pesis, — "  Send  me  my  tribute,  or  else  "| 

owe  thee  no  tribute,  and  if  " 

Shane  was  not  the  man  to  suffer  the  rights  oi 
O'Neill  to  be  questioned.  With  a  large  army  he 
burst  into  Tyrconnell,  and  too  recklessly  pursued 
liis  enemies  into  the  recesses  of  their  mountain- 
ous country.  In  a  night  attack  upon  his  camp, 
his  troops  were  entirely  dispersed :  Shane  him- 
self narrowly  escaped  being  surprised  in  his  tent, 
amongst  the  galloglasses  of  his  guard :  and 
for  that  time  was  obliged  to  retreat,  or  even 
to  fly  ;  swimming  the  rivers,  say  the  chroni- 
clers of  Donegal,  and  traversing  the  mountains 
by  unknown  ways.  But  he  vowed  a  dire  re- 
venge, and  fearfully  fulfilled  that  vow  another 
day. 

The  plunder  of  O'Neill's  camp  fell  to  the  vic- 
torious O'Donnells  :  and  the  scene  upon  that  bat- 
tle-field might  remind  us  of  Chlodowig  and  his 
Franks,  dividing  their  spoil  upon  the  plains  ot 
Soissons.  "  A  vast  plenty  of  arms,  clothing, 
and  horses  fell  to  the  share  of  the  victors,  the 
prodigious  quantity  of  which  booty  may  be  judged 
by  this,  that  when  they  came  to  divide  the  spoU 
by  lots,  eighty  horses,  besides  O'Neill's  own 
horse,  fell  to  the  share  of  Con  the  son  of  Cal- 
vagh.* 

The  O'Donnells  did  not  long  boast  of  their 
victory,  till  a  fresh  army  from  Tyr-owen  crossed 
the  Foyle  and  carried  havoc  and  ruin  to  the 
heart  of  their  country     Calvagh  O'Donnell  was 

*  Ware,  "  Antiq.  of  Ireland  citing  the  '*  Annals  of 
Donegal."    (Four  Masters.) 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEJLL.  31 

defeated  in  battle,  his  Linds  were  wasted  anj 
plundered,  and  the  chieftain  and  his  wife  carried 
off  in  chains  by  the  triumphant  Shane.  Calvagh 
indeed  was  afterwards  set  free  ;  but  liis  wife  re- 
mained as  part  of  the  spoils  of  war,  in  tlie  halls  of 
Benburb  ;  became  the  concubine  of  the  haughty 
conqueror,  and  bore  him  sons  and  daughters  :  in 
especial  one  son,  whom  they  christened  Hugh, 
and  surnamed  na  GavelocJi^  "  Of  the  fetters,"  or 
the  Fettered — for  whom  it  had  been  better  if  he 
had  never  been  born. 

A  wild  and  turbulent  career  had  this  Shane, 
and  few  days  of  rest  since  he  took  the  leading  of 
that  warlike  sept :  quelling  Mac  Gnire  of  Fer- 
managh ;  bridling  the  marauding  Scots  ;  on  all 
sides  strengthening  the  friends  and  crushing  the 
foes  of  Tyr-owen  :  crushing  them  indeed  too 
fiercely ;  whereby  he  treasured  up  for  himself 
wrath,  which  was  to  burst  at  a  future  day  upon 
his  head. 

At  last  the  impetuous  energy  of  tliis  chief  pre- 
vailed, and  carried  the  sway  of  O'Neill  higher 
than  it  had  reached  under  any  of  his  predeces- 
sors since  the  race  had  given  monarchs  to  Ire- 
land. From  Fanad  to  Dundalk,  from  Ballyshan- 
non  to  Dundrum,  was  no  chief  able  to  resist  his 
l)0wer.  So  that,  in  1558,  when  Elizabeth  as- 
cended the  throne  of  England,  the  O'Neill,  as 
reason  was,  [)redominated  in  Ulster. 

The  Englisli  government  seems  to  have  deter- 
mined that  either  by  force  or  otherwise,*  the 

•  "By  all  manner  of  means,  as  well  by  force  an  other' 
wise/' — Instruc*iurs  tfN  Sussex.  De$id.  Cur.  Hibenuca 
p.  3. 


/ 


}2  LIFE  OF  HUGH  0'NEI1,L. 

Northern  prince  must  be  destroyed.  Sir  Henry 
Sidney  (who  was  administering  the  government 
of  the  Pale,  in  th^  absence  of  Sussex)  marched 
northward  as  far  as  Dundalk  and  invited  the 
chief  to  a  conference.  Shane  O'Neill  was  then 
at  his  house  of  the  Fews,  between  Dundalk  and 
Armagh  ;  and  he  seems  to  have  entertained  some 
fe^lrs  that  Sidney  meant  him  foul  phiy  in  this 
proposed  interview.  He  therefore  declined  the 
invitation  ;  but  sent  a  message  that  if  Sir  Henry, 
of  his  courtesy,  would  visit  his  poor  house,  and 
attend  a  christening  there,  and  be  gossip  to  his 
child,  it  would  please  him  well.  Sir  Henry  at- 
tended him,  was  treated  with  all  princely  hospi- 
tality;  and  Shane  took  the  trouble  to  explain 
to  him,  so  far  as  his  Illnglish  ideas  would  admit 
the  information,  how  the  Queen  of  England  had 
no  jurisdiction  in  Ulster;  how  the  "surrender" 
dncl  re-investment  of  Con  Baccagh  were  void  by 
the  Irish  laws,  as  he  was  only  chieftain  for  his 
life,  "  nor  could  hav^e  more  by  the  law  of  Tani.^- 
trj^ ;  nor  could  surrender  but  by  consent  of  the 
iaws  of  his  country ;"  how  he,  Shane,  being  the 
lawful  son  of  Con,  and  also  elected  by  his  sept, 
and  moreover  able  to  defend  his  rights  by  tlie 
sword,  was  now  the  true  prince  and  chieftain  of 
Ulster,  and  that  as  he  meddled  not  with  tlu; 
Queen  of  England's  territories,  so  he  would  take 
care  she  should  not  interfere  with  his.* 

*  This  visit  of  Sidnej  vvas  received  by  tbe  Irish  as  a 
'  submission,'  and  "  altl  ough  the  insolence  of  this  over- 
ture," says  Leland,  "  ivas  fully  conceived,  yet  it  was 
deemed  expedient  to  comply  with  it." 


LIFE   OF  FfUGH  o'nEILL. 


33 


When  the  Earl  of  Sussex  returned  to  his  go- 
vernment several  unsuccessful  expeditions  were 
made  to  the  North  in  order,  either  by  war  or  di- 
plomacy to  reduce  this  "  Arch- Traitor,"  as  th3 
English  3hroniclers  dare  to  term  him ;  and  at 
length  "  the  queen  resolved,"  says  Camden,  "  to 
disannul  the  patent  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth, 
wherein  he  declared  Matthew  (falsely  supposed 
to  be  the  son  of  Con)  to  be  the  successor  of  hi? 
father,  and  to  bestow  upon  this  Shane,  as  hi3 
undoubted  son  and  heir,  the  honourable  title  of 
Earl  of  Tyr-owen  and  Baron  of  Dungannon."* 
Yes  :  they  would  now  shower  their  tinsel  hO' 
nours  Upon  him  ;  set  his  foot  upon  the  necks  of  all 
his  enemies  ;  enrich  him  with  the  spoil  of  nu- 
merous abbeys ; — let  him  only  consent  to  kneel 
at  the  footstool  of  a  foreign  throne,  and  place  his 
country  under  the  iron  heel  of  English  power. 

But  Shane  the  Proud  despised  those  paltry 
coronets.  "  Letters  patent,"  could  not  strengthen 
him  in  Tyr-owen  ;  and  for  the  abbeys,  if  he  had 
been  reformer  enough  he  could  have  robbed  them 
for  himself.  In  the  language  of  the  English 
chronicler  :  "  When  he  saw  that  he  was  able  tj 
levy  of  his  own  followers  one  thousand  horse  and 
four  thousand  foot,  and  had  already  a  guard  of 
seven  hundred  men,  he  disdained,  in  barbarous 
pride,  all  such  honourable  titles  in  comparison  of 
the  name  of  O'Neill,  and  vaunted  himself  among 
his  own  people  to  be  king  of  Ulster,"f 

Yet  Shane  was  willing  to  live  at  peace  vith 
England  and  the  Pale :  he  appeared  in  Di:biln 


Camden,  O  7Jl\z. 


fib 

c 


34 


LIFE   OF  HUGH   O  NEILL. 


r»nd  announced  his  intention  of  visiting  the  coiiri 
of  London  :  tlien  hearing  from  some  of  his  rs- 
tiiiners  that  Sussex  meditated  seizing  him  by 
treache).'7,  and  sending  him  to  England  a  pr- 
soner,  he  proudly  resolved  to  attend  the  Queer, 
as  became  an  independent  sovereign.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  London  with  a  gallant  train  of  guards, 
bare-headed,  with  curled  hair  (as  if  the  statute  of 
Kilkenny  had  never  been  passed)  hanging  down 
their  shoulders,  armed  with  battle-axes,  and  ar- 
rayed in  their  saffron  doublets  ;  an  astonishment 
to  the  worthy  burghers  of  London  and  West- 
minster. Elizabeth  received  him  graciously  and 
they  conversed  upon  Irish  affairs  ;  but  when  the 
ijueen  inquired  by  what  right  he  had  excluded 
young  Hugh  from  Matthev/'s  inheritance,  "  he 
answered  fiercely,  by  very  good  right."*  and  ex- 
plained to  Elizabeth  the  laws  and  usages  whicl: 
prevailed  in  his  countiy  ;  showed  her  that  Con*:, 
surrender  was  unavailing ;  that  Matthew  was  a 
bastard,  and  he  the  true  O'Neill ;  and  that  the 
•authority  he  exercised  over  his  tributaries  of  Tjl 
ster  was  no  more  than  his  fathers  had  done  before 
liim  : — "  Which  matters  forasmuch  as  the  quee.*? 
gave  credit  unto,  he  was  sent  home  again  with 
lionour." 

Yet  that  treacherous  court  had  resolved  on  nis 
ruin  ;  and  Elizabeth  while  she  loaded  him  w.th 
^ionours,  vowed  revenge  in  secret,  and  swore 
"  by  God's  death"  that  such  a  rascaiUe  kern 
should  not  long  despise  her  peerages  and  defy 
her  power. 


•  Camden.  Q.  Eliz. 


JJFF,   OF   HUGH  o'NETLL 


34 


An  alliance,  however,  was  for  the  present  con- 
cluded between  the  Queen  of  England  and  the 
prince  of  Tyr-owen.  Shane,  as  a  proof  of  his 
good  faith  was  to  exterminate  the  Scots  of  Dal- 
riada,  who  were  declared  enemies  of  England — a 
duty  which  he  readily  undertook,  as  the  Scots 
were  also  enemies  of  his  own ;  or  at  least  had 
grown  too  numerous  and  powerful  to  be  tolerated 
as  neighbours  by  so  imperious  a  chief.  Yet  these 
Scots  of  the  Western  Isles,  Mac  Neills  and  Mac 
Donnells,  were  his  kinsmen  and  natural  allies 
were,  in  fact,  an  Irish  sept,  of  Irish  speech  and 
usages,  and  a  branch  of  the  great  Clan-Colla, 
from  which  had  descended  the  O'Hanlons  and 
Mac  Gwires  of  Ulster.*  For  ages  they  had  pos- 
sessed the  "  glynns"  or  mountainous  country  oi 
Antrim,  and  were  the  mercenary  soldiers  of 
every  chief  in  the  island  who  required  and  could 
reward  their  services.  Their  swords  were  fre- 
quent in  our  wars  ;  their  names  in  the  songs  of 
all  our  bards  :  and  they  founded  upon  Irish  soil 
the  monasteries  of  Bona  Margy  and  Limbeg,  to 
make  their  peace  with  God :  and  there,  in  Irish 
earth,  their  bones  lie  buried.j" 

Now,  instead  of  making  common  cause  with 
the  Scots  against  their  common  enemy,  Shane, 
at  the  instance  of  his  faithless  ally  of  England, 
levied  a  cruel  war  upon  them.  On  his  return 
from  London  he  gathered  his  clansmen  of  Tyr- 

•  Four  Mastcro,  by  Connellan,  note  in  page  3. 

f  Dr.  Ileid  takes  care  to  distin<^uish  them  from  Uig 
Scots.  He  says,  (Hist,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  vol. 
l»P-77, )  "The  Scots  here  spoken  of  were  piraticai 
marauders  and  Roman  Catholics  from  the  western  isles. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


owen,  crossed  tlie  Bann,  and  sought  the  Mac 
Donnells  in  their  stror  gholds  of  the  glynns. 
Here  he  defeated  their,  in  two  battles,  slew  James 
the  son  of  Conal,  theij  leader,  wasted  the  country, 
and  carried  off  Sorley  XJuidhe  (the  yellow-haired), 
brother  of  their  chief,  in  chains  to  Tyrone, 

The  English  government  had  in  the  mean 
time  been  steadily  pursuing  its  views  of  reforming 
Ireland,  to  which  Shane  O'Neill  had  hitherto 
paid  no  attention  whatever.  Sussex,  in  the  se- 
cond year  of  the  queen,  held  a  parliament  iTl 
Dublin  which  re-enacted  the  spiritual  supremacy 
of  the  English  monarch,  and  imposed  on  all  the 
Catholic  clergy  (or,  as  the  act  expressed  it,  all 
who  should  maintain  or  defend  foreign  authority) 
penalties  of  deprivation  of  benefices,  for  the  first 
offence  ;  for  the  second,  the  penalties  of  prtsmu- 
nire  ;  for  the  third,  penalty  of  high-treason  ; — 
that  is  to  say,  that  all  Catholic  clergymen  who 
would  not  renounce  their  faith  must  die. 

Another  act  passed  in  that  parliament,  and 
called  the  "  Act  of  Uniformity,"  commanded 
the  use  of  King  Edward's  liturgy  (yet  not  the 
liturgy  which  had  been  prescribed  before  ;  not 
his  "  First  Book,''  but  his  "  Second  Book")  ; 
under  penalty  of  imprisonment  for  life  in  the 
case  of  all  such  clergymen  as  should  a  third  time 
refuse  to  use  it,  or  evsn  speak  disrespectfully  of 
it.  All  persons,  whether  lay  or  clerical,  who 
should  "  despise  or  deprave"  the  book,  or  cause 
any  otlier  form  to  be  said  or  sung  (that  is  to  say^ 
all  Catholics)  were  to  be  visited  with  like  pu» 
nishments  according  to  the  number  of  their  of* 
r<^nces  in  that  kind.   All  i>f  rsons  whatever,  no^ 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


taving  reasonable  excuse,"  were  to  resort  to  their 
parish  churches  on  all  Sundays  and  holydays, 
and  to  abide  there  orderly  during  service,  on  pain 
of  the  censures  of  the  church  and  twelve  pence 
fine  : — and  the  being  a  Catholic  was  not  to  be 
admitted  as  such  "  reasonable  excuse,"  but  was 
rather  a  serious  aggravation.  Finally,  all  arch- 
bishops and  bishops  were  solemnly  enjoined,  in 
God's  name,  to  put  this  act  in  strict  execution. 

Although  the  government  of  the  Pale  had  no 
power  to  enforce  their  laws  in  the  Irish  country, 
the  intention  was  that  those  laws  should  have  a 
general  operation  wherever,  and  so  soon  as,  either 
negotiation  or  the  sword  might  open  a  way  for 
them.  And  as  the  queen  had  not  for  some  years 
had  an  archbishop  of  Armagh  it  was  resolved  (in 
order  to  assert  a  continual  claim  against  the  pope) 
to  iJupply  that  metropolitan  see  with  an  active  re- 
Former.  Adam  Loftus,  a  young  Englishman  whc 
had  made  a  favourable  impression  on  the  queen 
at  a  public  act  in  Cambridge  by  "  the  elegance 
of  his  oratory,  the  comeliness  of  his  person,  and 
;is  graceful  address,"  *  was  raised  at  the  age  of 
fvventy-eig;ht  to  the  nominal  dignity  of  Arch- 
bishop of  Armagh  ;  "  the  youngest  archbishop," 
says  Ware,  "  that  we  meet  with  in  this  see,  ex- 
cept Celsus."  And  the  North,  not  being  yet 
ripe  for  foreign  bishops,  the  queen  declares  in 
the  letters  patent  that  as  "  his  archbishopric  is  a 
place  of  great  charge,  in  name  and  title  only  to 
be  esteemed,  witliout  any  worldly  endowment," 
she  permits  Iiim  to  hold  the  deanery  of  St.  Pa- 


•  Mant.  "  Hist,  of  tlie  Cliurdi  of  Irel-ind,"  p.  268. 


38 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


tj-ick's  in  the  meantime.  It  was  clear  that  while 
Sliane  O'Neill  held  such  sway  in  the  North, 
Loftus  could  be  only  a  bishop,  as  it  were,  in  par' 
tihus  injidelium.  And  that  his  province  must 
be  first  reduced  by  the  sword  before  it  would 
peaceably  submit  to  the  sway  of  his  crozier. 

To  make  a  beginning  of  that  conquest  a  pow- 
erful body  of  English  troops  was  sent  to  Derry 
under  Colonel  Randolph,  ostensibly  as  auxiliaries 
against  the  Scots,  but,  in  truth,  to  form  a  settle- 
ment there  which  might  be  a  key  to  Ulster,  and 
a  bit  between  the  teeth  of  O'Neill.  These  Eng- 
lish, being  true  reformers,  made  small  account  of 
the  sanctity  of  that  ancient  seat  of  piety.  They 
turned  the  church  into  an  arsenal  and  fortified 
themselves  upon  the  hill  of  Derry. 

Now  Shane  began  to  perceive  that  his  new 
allies  were  his  deadliest  enemies,  and  that  no- 
thing less  was  contemplated  by  them  than  the 
subjugation  of  his  people  and  the  ruin  of  the  an- 
cient religion  :  and  he  resolved  that  Randolph 
and  his  troops  should  no  longer  hold  the  TeampoU 
More^  nor  profane  tlie  sacred  oaks  of  Colum-kille. 
ile  led  his  forces  to  the  Foyle,  yet,  for  the  pre- 
sent, neither  besieged  the  place  nor  declared  hos- 
tility :  but  a  party  of  his  men  advanced  to  the  hill, 
and  by  their  insolence,  as  Cox  relates,  provoked 
Randolph  to  sally  out  upon  them.  A  skirmish 
onsuedin  which  Randolph  was  killed  :  and  Derry 
became  a  hazardous  post  to  hold — with  the  ban- 
ners of  O'Neill  floating  over  O'Cahan's  country 
.to  the  south  ;  O'Dogherty  and  Inishowen  gloom 
ing  on  the  north  ;  and  angry  Mac  Swynes  and 
O'Donnells  hemming  it  round  on  all  sides.  Tlie 


L.1FK  OF  HL  GU  (>  ^1I.1L|L.. 


39 


garrison,  however,  maintained  its  ground  :  till  a! 
lengtli — behold  a  miracle  !  a  wolf  from  the  neigh- 
bouring woods  ran  to  the  hill  of  Derry,  huge  and 
hirsute,  having  in  his  mouth  a  burning  torch,* 
rushed  straight  to  the  church  and  flung  his  bran(? 
amongst  the  powder  barrels  of  the  Saxons. 
Church  and  fortress,  with  horrible  explosion 
were  shattered  to  pieces  ;  hundreds  of  the  soldiery 
were  blown  to  the  elements  :  and  so  St.  Colum- 
kille  avenged  the  desecration  of  ^ns  sacred  groves. 

Thus  reLate  the  Irish  annalists :  but  whether 
by  the  miracles  of  the  saint,  or  otherwise,  cer- 
tainly the  fortifications  of  Derry  were  dismantled, 
and  the  remnant  of  Randolph's  men  betook  them- 
selves, to  their  ships. 

On  the  south  of  O'Neill's  territory  also  the 
English  had  begun  to  encroach  ;  and  the  vene- 
rable cathedral  of  Armagh  was  occupied  by  their 
troops — unfailing  harbingers  of  the  Reformation 
in  Ireland.  But  now  Shane  threw  off  all  reserve 
with  these  insidious  allies.  He  could  not  endure 
this  new  garrison  of  Armagh.  His  blood  was 
up :  his  standard  was  unfurled  ;  and  he  swore  by 
St.  Malachy,  and  by  the  crozier  of  blessed  Pa- 
trick, that  the  holy  fanes  of  Drumsailech  hill 
should  be  no  shelter  for  the  reforming  bishop  and 

*  Or  spar/is  of  fire — O'  Sullivan.  Tliere  is  an  obscu- 
rUy  iibc'u't  tlie  cause  of  the  Englisli  troops  evacuating 
Derry.  ri)e  story  of  the  skirniisii  in  whicli  Randolph 
was  killed  is  given  hy  Camden  and  Cox  ;  but  O'Sullivan 
does  not  mention  it  at  all.  And,  on  tlie  other  hand,  tl>e 
aiiraele  of  the  wolf  is  an  unsatisfactory  account  of  the 
matter.  O'Sullivan,  however,  does  not  state  it  as  a  fact, 
but  as  the  popular  belief  in  his  day 


40 


I.IFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


his  troops.  He  burst  upon  Armagh  like  a,  thun 
derbolt,  and  laid  both  chui'ch  and  city  in  ashe.s. 

For  this  Loi  tus  solemnly  cursed  him,  and  in 
Dublin  pronounced  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion against  him  ;*  not  with  bell,  or  book,  or 
candle,  (which  might  savour  of  superstition,)  yet 
with  sufficient  unction  and  heartiness  notwith- 
standing. But  Shane  was  little  affected  by  his 
cursing.  With  the  troops  of  Tyr-owen  he  swept 
southward  like  a  hail-storm  rava^-ino-  the  settle- 
ments  of  the  English  and  razing  the  castles  of 
the  Pale.  He  laid  siege  to  Dundalk  where  he 
met  a  stout  resistance  ;  and  Sarsfield,  mayor  of 
Dublin,  having  marched  to  its  relief  with  a  large 
body  of  citizens,  he  raised  the  siege,  and  retired 
northwards,  after  laying  waste  half  a  province. 

The  whole  powers  of  the  English  government 
were  now  concentrated  against  O'Neill.  Even 
the  Earl  of  Desmond,  on  whom  lie  had  relied  for 
support,  joined  witli  the  Deputy  in  defence  of  the 
Pale.  Sidney,  with  the  usual  English  policy,  la- 
boured to  raise  an  Irish  party  against  him  in 
Dlster,  and  for  that  purpose  supported  O'Donnell 
his  bitter  enemy  with  troops  and  arms.  Tlie 
North  was  laid  desolate  by  a  furious  war  ;  and 
although  O'Neill  was  generally  victorious  in  the 
field,  and  especially  in  the  battle  of  the  "  Red- 
coats" {na  Gassogues  dearg)^  where  four  hun- 
dred of  O'Donnell's  English  auxiliaries  were  cut 
to  pieces  ;f  yet  his  power  gradually  declined. 
Mac  Gwire  and  some  Connaught  chieftains  whom 
Mspride  and  ferocity  had  made  his  enemies,  joined 


Ware. 


t  Mac  Geoghegaa. 


LIFE   OF   HUGH  O'NEIJLL.. 


41 


O'Donnell  against  him.  His  territories  were 
wasted  by  incessant  attacks  :  liio  troops,  who  ra- 
ther feared  than  loved  him,  lied  in  large  bodies 
from  his  standard  :  and  at  last,  abandoned  by  all 
his  allies,  and  reduced  nearly  to  extremity,  he 
resolved  to  betake  himself  to  his  former  enemies^ 
the  Scots  of  Antrim,  who  were  then  encamped 
in  north  Clan-hugh-buidhe,  under  Alaster  Oge 
Mac  Donnell.  As  a  propitiatory  offering  he  sent 
home  in  freedom  the  Yellow-haired  Sorley,  whom 
he  had  taken  prisoner  two  years  before  ;  and 
shortly  after  Shane  himself,  with  his  concubine, 
(the  wife  of  O'Donnell),  his  secretary,  and  a 
poor  train  of  but  fifty  horsemen,  proceeded  to  the 
encampment  of  Mac  DonnelL 

Here  again  he  was  met  by  the  treachery  of  the 
English.  An  officer  named  Piers,  an  agent  of 
the  deputy,  had  been  negotiating  with  the  Scots  ; 
and  on  the  news  of  Shane's  approach,  took  care 
to  remind  them  of  that  pitiless  raid  upon  the 
glynns,  of  the  slaughter  of  their  chief  and  all 
their  ancient  enmity  to  the  haughty  prince  of 
Ulster.  O'Neill  arrived,  and  was  entertained 
ivith  seeming  hos[)itality  ;  until  some  dispute,  as 
previously  concerted,  arose  between  the  fohowers 
of  the  two  chiefs,  which  ended  in  the  Mac  Don- 
nells  falling  upon  Shane  and  all  his  company  and 
liewing  tliem  to  pieces.  The  chieftain's  head  was 
a[)propriated  by  Piers,  the  contriver  of  this  base 
Blaughter,  who  sent  it,  as  an  acceptable  offering 
to  tlie  lord  deputy,  "  pickled  in  a  pipkin,"*  and 
received  for  tiic  price  of  it,  one  tliousand  marks. 

That  ghastly  lioad  was  gibbetted  high  upon  a 


•  Cox 


42 


lilFE   OF  HUGH  O  NEILL.. 


pole,  and  long  grinned  upon  the  towers  of  Dub* 
lin  Castle ;  a  new  muniment  and  visible  sign 
of  that  inalienable  legacy  of  hatred  to  the 
stranger  bequeathed  by  an  O'Neill  two  hundred 
years  before  ; — Hatred  produced  by  lengthened 
•ecollections  of  injustice,  by  the  murder  of  our 
fathers,  brothers,  and  kindred  ;  and  which  will 
not  be  extinguished  in  our  time  nor  in  that  of  our 
Sons."  The  headless  trunk  of  Shane  the  Proud 
was  buried  where  it  fell :  and  they  still  show  his 
grave,  about  three  miles  from  the  little  village  of 
Cushendun,  upon  the  coast  of  Antrim. 

English  writers  have  painted  this  Shane  as  a 
hideous  monster  of  sensual  brutality :  and  strange 
tales  are  current  of  his  wine  cellars  at  Dundrum 
castle,  on  tlie  coast  of  Down  ;  of  his  two  hun- 
dred tuns  of  Spanish  wine  and  hogsheads  of  us- 
quebaugh stored  in  the  vaults  of  that  fortress  ; 
of  his  deep  carouses  and  loathsome  drunkenness ; 
and  that  unheard-of  course  of  earth-bathing, 
burying  himself  to  the  ears  in  cold  clay,  to  cool 
the  raging  fever  of  his  blood.  But  it  is  the 
painting  of  an  enemy.  He  was  no  stupid  drunk- 
ard, who  for  so  many  years  defied  the  armies  and 
defeated  the  policy  of  Elizabeth  :  and  his  coun- 
trymen have  only  to  lament  that,  by  his  indomi- 
table  pride  and  cruelty,  he  armed  so  many  Irish 
chiefs  against  him,  and  against  their  native  land  ; 
and  further  to  regret  that  he  did  not  import  from 
Si)ain  (instead  of  wines  of  Malaga)  some  thou- 
sand blades  of  the  Toledo  tempering,  and  Spanish 
Boldiers,  then  the  best  troops  in  Europe,  to  wield 
them  against  the  deadly  enemies  of  his  race. 


LITE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


43 


CKAPTEE  in. 

TIELOUGH  LTNNOGH  AND   THE  "BAEON   OP  DUN- 
GANNON." 

A.  D.  1567—1584. 

Apter  the  murder  of  Shane  O'Neill,  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  her  Irish  deputy  believed  that  all 
danger  from  Ulster  was  at  an  end.  Sidney  held 
a  parliament  in  that  year  in  which  the  legisla- 
tors of  the  Pale  solemnly  passed  an  act  for  what 
they  called  the  "  attainder"  of  Shane  O'Neill,  and 
the  forfeiture  of  his  "  estate,"  meaning  all  the 
lands  inhabited  by  his  sept.  The  act  then  pro- 
ceeds, after  abolishing  the  very  name  of  O'Neill, 
and  imposing  the  penalties  of  high  treason  upon 
any  who  should  dare  to  assume  it,  to  grant  to  the 
queen  all  the  other  lands  of  northern  and  east- 
ern Ulster  ;  O'Cahan's  country,  now  the  county 
Derry ;  the  Route,  the  Glynns,  and  Nortli  Clan- 
hugh-buidhe  (or  Claneboy,)  now  composing  the 
county  of  Antrim,  but  then  inhabited  by  the 
Mac  Quillans,  INIac  Donnells,  and  O'Neills  ;  I\[ao 
Gennis'  country  in  Down,  called  Iveaf^h  ;  O'Han- 
Ion's  and  Mac  Cann's  in  Armagli,  called  Oir-thir 
(Orier)  and  Clan  Bressail ;  and  also  the  whole  of 
the  present  county  of  Monaghan,  comprising 
Farney,  Uriel,  Lochty,  and  Dartry,  inhabited  by 


LIFE   OF  HDGH  O'NEIL  1,. 


the  Mac  Mahons,  and  Triuch  of  the  Mac  Kennas 

All  these  territories  were  gravely  confiscated  to 
the  queen's  use, — upon  the  map,  and  after  a  do- 
cumentary manner ;  but  her  majc-ty  never  de- 
rived any  benefit  from  those  new  dominions, 
being,  indeed,  kept  out  of  tliem  by  the  right 
owners. 

The  truth  is,  the  northerns  never  heard  of 
these  acts  of  Elizabeth's  Parliament ;  and  never 
dreamed  that  the  murder  of  an  Irish  chieftain 
by  a  traitor  Scot  should  give  any  foreign  power 
authority  in  Ulster.  Tirlough  Lynnogh  O'Neill, 
a  grandson  of  Con  More  was  invested  with  the 
chieftaincy  of  Ulster,  by  the  permission,  as  tlie 
English  historians  say,  of  the  queen's  govern- 
ment ;  which  also  permitted  him  to  hold  (but, 
they  assure  us,  by  *'  English  tenure")  a  portion  of 
his  estate ;  permitted  indeed  more  than  they 
could  have  wished,  wanting  the  power  to  pre- 
vent it. 

Sir  Henry  Sidney  however  proceeded  to  the 
North,  not  on  a  hostile  expedition,  but  attended 
only  by  six  hundred  men  ;  and  there  he  received 
from  several  chieftains  what  would  now  be  called 
assurances  of  friendly  relations,  or  "  submissions" 
in  the  language  of  Camden  and  Cox  ;,  and  as  the 
latter  author  with  much  gravity  assures  us,  "  set- 
tled Ulster,"  which,  however,  will  appear  not  to 
have  been  finally  settled  at  that  time. 

When  Shane  O'Neill  was  murdered,  the  crafty 
councillors  of  Elizabeth  seem  to  have  fixed  their 
eyes  upon  young  Hugh,  son  to  Che  ill-fated  Baror, 
Matthew,  and  destined  him,  according  to  the  usual 
English  policy,  as  an  instrument  to  .veaken  and 


tJFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


45 


divide  the  power  of  Ulster ;  by  degrees  to  de- 
stroy its  independence  ;  and  so  to  reform  it  after 
their  fashion,*  little  knowing  the  stuff'  that  was 
in  him  :  for  this  Hugh  was  then  "  a  young  man 
little  set  by."t 

Unliappily,  we  know  but  little  of  Hugh 
O'Neill's  early  life ;  except  that  he  lived  some- 
times in  Ireland,  but  much  frequented  the  Eng- 
lish court ;  in  his  own  country  an  Irish  chief,  in 
London  a  courtly  nobleman  ;  that  he  was  high  in 
favour  with  Elizabeth,  being  a  youth  of  goodly 
presence  and  winning  speech  ;  that  he  was  not 
very  tall  in  stature,  but  powerfully  made,  able  to 
endure  much  labour,  watching,  and  hunger  ;  that 

his  industry  was  great,  his  soul  large,  and  fit 
for  the  weightiest  businesses  ;" — that  he  "  had 
much  knowledge  in  military  affairs,  and  a  pro- 
found dissembling  heart ;  so  as  many  deemed  him 
born  either  for  the  great  good  or  ill  of  his  coun- 
Xvy."X 

This  man  was  deemed  a  suitable  instrument  ol 
English  politicians  to  ruin  his  country's  liberty; 
and  with  that  view  was  recognized  by  the  queen 
as  Baron  of  Dungannon  "  by  his  father's  right,'* 
and  was  supported  as  a  rival  to  Tirlough,  then 
the  O'Neill ;  for  thus  it  was  expected  that  the 
Irish  chieftain  and  the  Saxon  baron  would  de- 
stroy each  other,  and  that  the  great  house  of  Ty- 
rone, divided  against  itself,  would  fall.  Hugh 

*  For  a  candid  explanation  of  this  scheme  see  *'  Spen« 
eer's  View,"  p.  18(). 
t  Camden,  Qiiee  i  Eliz. 
tlb. 


46 


LIFE  OF  flUGH  O'NEII.L. 


O'Neill  knew  well  the  purport  and  meanmsr  of 

all  these  honours  :  he  understood  what  the  golden 
chain  of  an  English  noble  symbolized,  when  worn 
round  the  neck  of  a  Celtic  chieftain  :  he  felt  ttiut 
in  those  stars  and  ribbons  there  lurked  danger  to 
his  country,  ignominy  to  himself.  But  he  had 
much  to  learn  amongst  the  English  :  he  had  their 
mode  of  warfare  to  master,  their  policy  to  study, 
in  the  characters  of  Burleigh  and  Walsinghani 
intending,  apparently,  to  try  conclusions  with 
them  in  both  those  departments  at  a  future  day. 
So  with  that  "  profound  dissembling  heart"  of 
his,  he  stomached  their  disgraceful  dignities  ;  nay, 
bore  himself  proudly  under  them,  biding  his 
time. 

Nearly  twenty  years  passed  away,  from  the 
death  of  Shane  till  1584,  when  Perrot  came  to 
Ireland  as  lord  deputy  ;  during  which  Ulster  was 
comparatively  quiet,  though  as  thoroughly  unre- 
formed,  and  anti-English  as  ever.  The  sacrile- 
gious outrages  by  which  the  foreigners  and  their 
bishops  prosecuted  reformation  in  the  south,  (and 
which  provoked  the  Geraldine  v/ar  there)  were 
still  unknown  in  the  O'Neill's  country.  Abbey 
lands  and  monasteries  were  peaceably  possessed 
by  their  religious  inhabitants  ;  and  three  northern 
bishoprics,  those  of  Clogher,  Derry,  and  Raphoe, 
seem  to  liave  been  abandoned  altogether  to  Ca- 
inolic  prelates  ;  so  that  as  Doctor  Leland.  Ja- 
menting  the  circumstance,  observes,  "  they  were 
still  granted  by  the  pope  without  control."  Not 
ihat  the  pope  did  not  also  appoint  bishops,  as 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'neILL.  47 

usual,  to  the  other  sees ;  but  for  some  of  those 
there  were  also  nominal  bishops  (without  clergy 
or  flocks),  named  by  letters  patent  from  the 
queen. 

During  this  period  also  the  civil  policy  of  the 
North  remained  unchanged ;  there  was  not  a 
BherifF  north  of  Dundalk.  No  "  lord  president" 
had  yet  ventured  into  these  regions  to  govern 
with  his  "  course  of  discretion,"  as  Sir  John  Da- 
vies  terms  their  method  of  administering  justice- 
Hugh  O'Neill,  when  in  Ireland,  seems  to  have  re- 
sided quietly  at  his  house  of  Dungannon,  and  tc 
have  acquiesced,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  if. 
ine  chieftaincy  of  old  Tiriough,  who  held  his 
state  principally  in  Strabane  or  Benburb.  And 
so  long  as  the  frontiers  of  the  Pale  were  not  ad- 
vanced northwards,  neither  chiefs  nor  people 
concerned  themselves  about  the  affairs  of  other 
parts  OT  the  island :  for,  alas  1  there  was  still  no 
Irish  nation. 

Several  transactions,  however,  occurred  in 
Ulster,  during  this  period,  which  deserve  some 
notice.  In  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  foreign  plan- 
tations began  to  be  a  favourite  project  with  the 
English.  Large  tracts  of  North  America  were 
by  those  all-powerful  "  letters  patent"  taken  from 
the  red  men  and  deliberately  given  and  granted 
to  such  of  her  discontented  and  adventurous  sub- 
jects as  would  undertake  to  form  settlements 
there  and  establish  true  religion  :  and  Ulster, 
wnich  had  been  so  solemnly  declared  forfeit  to  the 
queen  seemed  a  very  suitable  theatre  for  similar 
plantations.  Accordingly  one  Thomas  Smith,  a 
secretary  to  Elizabeth,  having  a  natural  son 


^8  i-IFE   OF  HU^^-Vf  O'NEILL. 

pi o vide  for,  whose  illegitimacy  was  a  bar  to  hit 
attaining  distinction  in  his  own  country,  desired 
to  make  him  the  founder  of  a  noble  family  in  Ire- 
land. He  moved  the  queen,  therefore,  to  grant  this 
young  adventurer  a  territory  in  the  Ards,  on  the 
east  coast  of  Down,  for  the  purpose,  as  Camden 
assures  us,  of  civilizing  and  converting  the  bar- 
barous inhabitants.  And  as  it  had  always  been 
found  that  the  Irish  could  not  be  civilized  or 
converted,  until  they  had  first  been  largely  plun- 
dered, every  foot  soldier  who  should  accompany 
vSmith,  was  to  take  for  his  own  share,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  land,  every  horseman  two 
hundred  and  forty  acres,  and  all  other  persons  ac- 
cording to  their  rank,  paying  Smith,  as  Lord  of 
Ards,  one  penny  per  acre.  But  Brian  Mac  Art 
O'Neill,  and  his  clansmen,  to  whom  all  that  land 
belonged,  had  not  been  consulted  in  these  ar- 
rangements, and  apparently  were  not  desirous  of 
such  civilization  as  this  foreign  pirate  had  to 
offer:  for  when  Smith  landed,  (1571,)  and  was 
proceeding  to  establish  himself  in  the  Ards, 
O'Neill  and  his  people  fell  upon  them  by  surprise, 
(by  treachery,  some  historians  say,  as  if  the 
O'Neills  were  his  natural  and  sworn  allies,)  and 
killed  Smith  and  many  of  his  troops  ;  the  rest  fled 
to  their  ships  and  speedily  weighed  anchor,  carry- 
ing their  letters  patent  and  their  civilization  to 
some  more  hospitable  shore. 

Shortly  after,  in  the  year  1573,  Walter  Deve- 
reux,  earl  of  Essex,  projected  a  mure  extensive 
plantation  in  the  same  district.    Twelve  hundred 
troops  were  to  be  maintained  and  fortification 
built  at  the  joint  expens?  of  the  queen  and 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 

Essex ;  and,  this  time,  each  horseman  tvas  to 
have  four  hundred  acres,  and  each  footman  two 
hundred.  A  fev  scores  of  acres,  more  or  less,  r-^. 
the  Irish  enen'ies'  land  seemed  to  have  beeK 
reckoned  of  sm-ill  account.  Essex  raised  £10,000 
(equal  to  £100,000  of  the  present  money)  by 
mortgaging  his  English  estate  to  tlie  queen; 
made  vast  preparations  in  men,  arms,  and  stores*, 
and  so  hopeful  was  the  expedition  held,  that  Lora 
Rich,  Lord  Dacre,  Sir  Henry  Knowles,  three 
sons  of  Lord  Norris,  and  se\eral  oriier  English- 
men  of  distinction,  accompanied  him  to  have  a 
share  of  the  glory  and  the  profit.  The  armament 
set  sail  and  arrived  in  the  bay  of  Carrickfergus. 

So  formidable  an  invasion  seems  to  have  caused 
for  the  time  a  close  union  amongst  the  several 
chieftains  of  the  name  of  O'Neill.  Brien,  lord  of 
Clar-hugh-buidhe,  whose  territories  were  the  im- 
mediate objects  of  this  marauding  expedition, 
was  speedily  joined  both  by  Tirlough  Lynnogh, 
'  and  Hugh  of  Dungannon,  who  was  then  in  this 
country,  and  seems,  notwithstanding  his  English 
peerage  and  high  favour  with  the  queen,  to 
have  been  strongly  of  opinion  that  Ireland  was 
fo^  the  Irish.  Several  skirmishes  occurred  be- 
t-veen  the  O'Neills  and  the  troops  of  Essex.  The 
"ew  colony  began  to  promise  more  hard  figliting 
',han  either  profit  or  Protestantism  ;  and  the  Eng- 
lish noblemen  who  sliared  the  adventure,  one  by 
one,  withdrew  to  England.  At  last  the  earl  pe- 
•tioned  the  queen  for  liberty  to  abandon  the 
plantation  and  return  hrirae,  which  was  not  how- 
'er  granted  him  for  m^  re  than  a  year :  and  the 
only  further  proceedin    we  hear  of  in  connexior 


50 


LIFE  O?  HUGH  O'NEIXil.. 


with  the  affair  is  that,  in  1574,  "a  solemn  peaet 
and  concord  was  made  between  the  earl  of  Essex 
and  Felim  O'Neill.  However,  at  a  feast  wherein 
the  earl  entertained  that  chieftain,  and  at  the  end 
of  their  good  cheer,  O'Neill  and  his  wife  were 
seized  ;  their  friends  who  attended  were  put  tc 
the  sword  before  their  faces,  and  Felim,  togethe? 
with  his  wife  and  brother,  was  conveyed  to  Dub- 
lit,  where  they  were  cut  up  in  quarters."* 

Even  this  expedient,  however,  did  not  secure 
Essex  in  his  settlement.  The  Irish  of  that  coun- 
try would  not  be  civilized  notwithstanding  all  his 
exertions,  and  never  could  see  the  justice  or  ex- 
pediency of  allotting  their  lands  to  English  sol- 
diers. The  troops  were  slain  or  scattered  ;  the 
money  was  lost ;  and  at  length  the  earl  got  per- 
mission to  return  to  England. 

But  the  Geraldine  war  had  now  broken  out  in 
Munster,  and  Hugh  of  Dungannon  must  be  foL 
,owed  to  the  South. 

*  Irish  M  S.  Annals,  quoted  by  Leland  and  Ourry. 


IZFE  OP  HLOH  e'ifEILIj 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

JUE    GERALDINES    AND    REFORMATION  IN  TEHB 
SOUTH. 

1570—1578. 

As  the  wars  in  INIunster  were  solely  on  acconnt 
cf  religion,  it  is  needful  to  keep  sight  of  the  "  Re- 
formation." In  the  year  1575,  a  very  sirigular 
letter  was  addressed  to  the  Queen  of  England  by 
Sir  Henry  Sidney,  then  lord  deputy,  in  whicn 
the  writer  undertakes  an  exposition  of  the  state 
of  his  province  in  matters  ecclesiastical.*  He 
takes  as  an  example  the  diocese  of  Meath,  "  the 
best  peopled  diocese,  and  best  governed  country," 
he  calls  it,  of  this  realm,  of  which  the  queen's 
bishop  at  that  time  was  one  Brady.  Sir  Henry 
says  there  were  in  that  diocese  two  hundred  and 
twenty-four  parish  churches,  of  which  one  hun- 
dred and  five  were  served  by  "  very  simple  and 
sorry  curates,"  and  of  these  curates  only  eighteen 
were  found  able  to  speak  English,  "  the  rest 
Irish  priests,  or  rather,"  as  he  prefers  to  call 
them,  "  Irish  rogues."  In  many  places  the  very 
walls  of  the  churches  were  down,  "very  few 
chancels  covered,  windows  and  doors  ruined." 
And  if  such  be  the  estate  of  the  church  in  Meath 


•  Sir.  11.  Sidney's  Letters  and  Memoriah, 


5^ 


LlKP    OF   HUGH  O'NETf-Bi 


diocese  Sidney  leaves  her  Majesty  to  conjecture 
in  what  case  the  rest  i^;,  "  Yea,  so  profane  and 
heathenish,"  lie  continues,  "  are  some  parts  of  this 
your  country  become,  as  it  hath  been  preached 
publicly  before  me,  that  the  sacrament  of  baptism 
is  not  used  among  them :  and  truly  I  believe  it." 
Spenser's  account  of  die  stace  of  religion  is  stilJ 
more  dismal ;  the  clergy,  "  generally  bad" — '*  the 
churches  even  with  the  ground'* — the  bishops 
keeping  the  benefices  in  their  own  hands  and 
"  setting  up  their  own  servants  and  horseboys  to 
take  up  the  tithes  and  fruits  of  them."  In  all 
the  world  had  not  been  seen  "  such  an  overthrown 
church."  "  The  kingdom  in  general,"  says  Dr. 
Mant,  "was  at  this  time  overwhelmed  by  the 
most  deplorable  immorality  and  irreligion."  State- 
ments these  which  to  those  unacquainted  with 
the  peculiar  phraseology  of  the  writers  might  con- 
vey an  impression  of  hideous  national  crime.  But 
religion"  and  "  the  church"  meant,  with  them, 
only  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  queen's 
clergy.  The  universal  Catholicism  of  the  people 
was  accounted  only  as  so  much  irreligion  ;  for 
the  same  Spenser  informs  us  that  the  popish 
priests,  "  lurking  secretly  in  the  houses  and  in 
corners  of  the  country  doe  more  Imrt  and  hiu' 
drance  to  religion  with  their  private  persuasions, 
than  all  the  others  can  do  good  with  their  publique 
instructions."  And  he  much  marvels  at  the  zeal 
jf  these  priests,  which  he  says  "  it  is  a  great 
wonder  to  see  ;"  "  how  they  spare  not  to  come  out 
of  Spaine,  from  Rome  and  from  Remes,  by  long 
toyle  and  daungerous  travayling  hither,  where 
tHey  know  perill  of  death  awaytcth  them,  and 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


S'4 


reward  or  ricbesse."  Dr.  Leland,  wl/ile  he  de- 
plores the  gloomy  prospect,  as  he  calls  it,  admits 
that  "  where  the  reformed  clergy  could  neither 
be  regarded  nor  understood,  the  priests  spoke  to 
their  countrymen  and  kinsmen  in  their  own  lan- 
guage, and  v/ere  heard  with  attention,  favour  and 
afFection."  And  Doctor  Mant,  after  lamenting 
the  general  irreligion"  admits,  as  it  were  inci- 
dentally, that  "  It  is  true  there  existed  in  the 
kingdom  otlier  intrusive  missionaries  sent  by  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  as  opponents  of  the  sovereign,  the 
laws,  and  the  church  of  the  kingdom." 

The  overthrow  of  church  buildings  mentioned 
by  Sidney  and  Spenser,  may  be  accounted  for  by 
their  being  generally  turned  into  fortresses  by 
the  queen's  troops  ;  "  for  in  the  churches  dedi- 
cated to  the  saints  it  was  most  usual  with  them 
to  reside,"  says  an  Irish  chronicler.*  And  as  the 
Irish  loved  no  strong  places  upon  their  borders, 
they  made  no  scruple,  when  occasion  served,  of 
burning  and  destroying  them  like  the  other  cas- 
tles of  the  English.  We  have  seen  how  the  ca- 
thedrals of  Derry  and  Armagh  fared  in  the  wars 
of  Shane  O'Neill  ;  and  about  the  same  periodj" 
the  church  of  Athenry,  in  Gal  way,  was  laid  in 
ashes  by  the  Mac-an-Earlas,  sons  of  the  Earl  of 
Clanrickard  ;  and  when  men  cried  out  sacrilege 
and  parricide,  for  their  motlier  lay  buried  there, 
one  of  them  fiercely  answered,  "  If  liis  mother 
were  alive  in  the  church  he  would  sooner  burn 


•  MS.  translation  of  Lifeof  O'DomifcUinU.I.A-p.Sl. 

♦  1576. 


54 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


fccr  and  it  together  than  any  English  should  fortify 
there." 

On  the  whole  we  may  collect  that  little  or  no 
progress  had  yet  been  made  in  reducing  the  Irish 
people  under  the  Queen  of  England's  jurisdiction^ 
either  temporal  or  spiritual.  The  peerages  created 
by  King  Henry  had  begun  to  be  regarded  in  their 
true  light  as  badges  of  servitude,  and  despised 
accordingly.  Thomond,  like  Tyrone,  could  en- 
dure no  earldoms  within  its  bounds,  and  on  the 
death  of  the  first  earl  of  that  title,  had  compelled  his 
successor  to  nominate  a  Tanist  after  the  manner 
of  his  fathers,  and  to  comport  himself  in  all  re- 
spects like  an  Irish  prince.  Some  years  later 
Mac  Carthy-More  flung  to  the  winds  his  coronet 
of  Clancarthy,*  assumed  the  title  of  King  of 
Munster,  and  "  invaded  the  Lord  Roche's  coun- 
try with  banners  displayed"  as  an  Eugenian  chiel> 
tain  ought. 

But  the  great  Anglo-Irish  family  of  Fitzgerald 
were  the  most  powerful  antagonists  of  English 
authority  in  Munster.  G-erald,  the  head  of  that 
tribe,  (and  by  his  English  title.  Earl  of  Des- 
mond,) was  then  the  most  potent  chieftain  of  the 
south ;  had  a  vast  following,  royal  privileges, 
many  fair  castles  and  wide  domains  ;  and  through 
his  palatinate  of  Kerry,  and  from  the  Shannon 
to  the  Blackwater,  from  Carrig-a-foyle  to  his 
good  town  of  Kilmallock,  and  eastward  to 
Y"oughal,  the  Geraldine  administered  justice^ 
levied  war,  and  held  his  state  like  a  sovereign 
prince  as  he  was.   His  attachment  to  the  uncienf 


Cox.    This  writer  calls  the  title  Olancar 


1,IFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


55 


religion  caused  him  to  be  looked  to  as  the  cham- 
pion of  the  Catholic  cause  in  the  south.  The 
earl  and  his  countess  had  received,  with  distinc- 
tion, Leverous,  bishop  of  Kildare,  when  deprived 
of  his  see  for  refusing  the  oath  of  supremacy; 
and  in  defiance  of  the  statutes  against  harbouring 
priests  and  friars,  gave  an  asylum  to  all  such  as 
were  persecuted  under  the  atrocious  penal  laws 
of  the  Pale. 

It  was  evident  to  the  councillors  of  Elizabeth 
that  until  this  chief  could  be  reduced,  reformation 
and  English  law  would  make  small  way  in  Mun- 
ster  ;  and,  therefore,  in  the  year  1567,  while  Des- 
mond and  his  brother  John  were  at  the  court  of 
England  upon  a  peaceful  visit,  they  were  both 
seized  by  order  of  the  queen,  and  committed  pri- 
soners to  the  Tower. 

Now  it  was  hoped  that  some  progress  could  be 
made.  Sidney  procured  the  appointment,  succes- 
sively, of  Sir  John  Perrot  and  Sir  Wm.  Drury 
to  the  office  of  "  Lord  President"  of  Munster,  a 
functionary  whose  duty  seems  to  have  been  to 
excite  feuds  amongst  the  native  princes,  and  so 
strengthen  the  influence,  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
establish  the  rule  and  religion  of  England  upon 
their  ruin.  And  wherever  local  dissension  or 
treachery  atforded  any  opportunity  of  exercising 
giuthority,  they  proceeded  to  hold  a  kind  of  courts, 
dnd  make  the  unfortunate  Irish  amenable  to  the 
laws  enacted  in  the  Pale  Parliament.  Sir  John 
Davies  explains  the  functions  of  these  lords  pre- 
sident in  the  case  of  Fitton  then  holding  that 
office  in  Connaupjht,  who  governed,  he  says,  "  in 


56 


LIFE  OF  HUOH  O'NEILI*, 


a  course  of  discretion,"  partly  martial  and  partly 
civil ;  in  short,  as  best  lie  miglit. 

Perrot  and  Drury,  but  especially  the  latter,  car- 
ried this  course  of  discretion  to  a  terrible  length 
in  Munster.  The  Act  of  Uniformity  and  that 
against  harbouring  Catholic  priests,  were  strictly 
enforced  wherever  these  justiciaries  could  esta- 
blish their  power  ;  and,  unhappily,  the  south  was 
so  torn  by  the  wars  of  native  chiefs,  that  the 
English  officers,  though  not  supported  by  large 
military  force,  were  enabled  to  usurp  much  autho- 
rity. Thus,  in  an  expedition  made  by  Drury,  in 
1578,  he  bound  forty  citizens  of  Kilkenny,  in  a 
kind  of  recognizance,  to  come  to  church  every 
Sunday  and  hear  service  in  Englisli ;  (for  a  re- 
formed bishop  had  at  length  established  himself 
in  St.  Canice's ;)  and  during  the  same  circuit 
"  he  executed  twenty-two  criminals  at  Limerick, 
and  thirty-six  at  Kilkenny,  one  of  which  was  a 
blackamoor,  and  two  others  were  witches ;  who 
were  condemned,"  says  Cox,  "  by  the  law  of  na- 
ture."* What  were  the  offences  of  the  other 
culprits,  or  by  what  law  they  were  condemned^ 
we  are  not  apprized  ;  but  they  had  probably  three 
times  asserted  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the 
pope. 

In  the  same  year  we  find  a  notable  instance  of 
the  abhorrence  in  which  the  reformers  held  all 
**  superstition,"  and  how  they  proceeded  in  abating 

•  Witchcraft  and  conjurations  of  evil  spirits  had  so 
much  increased  about  this  time  that  the  queen's  govern- 
ment, amongst  other  acts  for  reforming  Ireland,  waa 
obUged  shortly  after  to  jjrocure  a  special  law  against 
those  crimes,  (the  28th  Eiiz.  c.  2. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


57 


it.  Matthew  Sheyn,  queen's  bishop  of  Cork  and 
Cloyne,  publicly  burned  at  the  high  cross  of 
Cork  the  image  of  St.  Dominick  belonging  to 
the  Dominican  friary  of  that  city.* 

And  now  Ave  might  sup  full  of  horrors,  with 
Ihe  ecclesiastical  historians  of  the  period,  in  de- 
I'ailing  the  cruel  persecutions  and  painful  deaths 
of  the  national  clergy,  wherever  the  unsparing 
arm  of  that  ferocious  English  Reformation  could 
reach  them  ; — how  Patrick  O'Hely,  bishop  of 
Mayo,  and  Cornelius  O'Rourke,  a  pious  priest, 
were,  by  order  of  Drury,  placed  on  the  rack, 
their  hands  and  feet  broken  with  hammers,  nee- 
dles thrust  under  their  nails  ;  how  they  were  at 
last  hanged  : — how  Dermod  O'Hurley,  archbishop 
of  Cashel,  was  arrested  by  order  of  Adam  Lof- 
tus  (then  Chancellor  of  the  Pale,  and  Queen's 
Archbishop  of  Dublin,  Armagh  having  proved 
fjoo  hot  for  him,  as  we  saw)  ;  how  he  was  loaded 
with  irons  until  the  Holy  Thursday  of  the  fol- 
lowing year,  dragged  before  the  chancellor  and 
treasurer,  questioned,  tortured,  and  finally  hanged 
outside  the  city  walls  before  break  of  day: — how 
John  Stephens,  a  priest,  having  been  duly  con- 
victed "  for  that  he  said  mass  to  Teague  Mac 
Hugh,"  was  hanged  and  quartered.  All  this  and 
much  more  may  be  found  in  the  martyrologists 
of  the  time.j'    But  what  is  material  for  us  to  re- 

*  Ware.  Bishops  of  Cork  and  Cloyne. 

t  (ySullivan.  JJid.  Cuth  O'Daly.  lialatio persecttt. 

fJibern. — Arlhur-a-nionaslerio,  ( quoted  in  Brenan's  Eccl. 
Hist,  of  Ireland.)  Tlieatre  of  Catholic  and  Protestant 
Rehgion,  &c. 


68 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILI.. 


mark  is,  the  fact  that  such  methods  of  coDversion 
were  then  the  only  known  methods  ; — that  thia 
island  had  now  become  one  of  the  battle-grounds 
on  which  Europe  in  those  centuries  fought  out 
the  cruel  quarrel  of  her  rival  faivhs  ; — that  Philip 
of  Spain  was  at  this  very  moment  striving  to 
crush  liberty  and  Protestantism  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, almost  as  fiercely  as  another  foreign  tyrant 
was  warring  against  liberty  and  Catholicism  in 
Ireland ; — that,  a  few  years  before,  in  the  streets 
of  Paris,  was  done  that  deed  of  horror  which 
makes  St.  Bartholomew's  a  day  that  mankind, 
while  the  earth  stands,  will  tremble  to  name  ;— 
that  hideous  rumours  of  intended  extermination, 
— Catholics  to  be  massacred  by  Protestants,  Pro- 
testants by  Catholics, — affrighted  the  general  ear 
of  Christendom  — and,  further,  that  Pope  Pius 
the  Fifth  had  lately,  by  a  solemn  bull,  deposed 
the  Queen  of  England  from  her  throne,  and  ab- 
solved her  subjects,  as  far  as  a  bull  could,  from 
their  allegiance ,  which,  indeed,  he  had  precisely 
as  good  a  right  to  do  as  she  to  deprive  him  of  his 
spiritual  supremacy. 

This  confounding  of  spiritual  and  temporal 
authority,  upon  both  sides,  led  to  all  those  terri- 
ble persecutions  and  "  religious  wars,"  as  they 
were  called,  which  devastated  Europe  for  more 
than  a  centurj. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nETLL. 


59 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  GEEALDINE  WAIJ, 

A.  D.  1578  -1584. 

Aftek  some  years'  confinement  in  the  tower, 
Gerald,  Earl  of  Desmond,  and  his  brother  were 
sent  as  state  prisoners  to  Dublin;  from  whence,  in 
1574,  they  had  found  an  opi3ortunity  to  escape 
ouhorseback  during  a  hunting  party,  and  by 
desperate  riding  arrived  in  Munster,  whither  it 
did  not  seem  advisable  to  follow  them.  For  about 
four  years  after  this  Desmond  seems  to  have  lived 
in  peace  with  the  English;  yet  still,  as  Ware  al- 
leges, was  keeping  up  negotiations  with  the  pope 
and  King  of  Spain,  but  without  much  result,  un- 
til at  last  James  Fitzmaurice,  his  kinsman,  pro- 
ceeded to  Eome,  and  through  the  celebrated 
ecclesiastics,  Saunders  and  Allen,  solicited  and 
obtained  from  his  Holiness  abull  commanding  the 
chiefs  and  clergy  of  Ireland  to  assist  Fitzmaurice 
in  defence  of  holy  church  against  the  lieretio 
English,  with  promise  of  indulgences  and  spiri- 
tual privileges,  such  as  the  Crusaders  had  earned 
by  fighting  for  the  blessed  sepulchre. 

Thus  accredited,  Fitzmaurice  proceeded  to 
Spain  and  entreated  King  Philip,  the  mortal 


go  ^^^'^         HUGU  O'KEILL. 

eneiny  of  England,  to  supply  men  and  arms  fos 
the  war.    In  Spain  also  he  expected  to  be  joined 
by   Stukely,  an  English  adventurer,  who  had 
shortly  before  obtained  six  hundred  Italians  from 
the  pope  for  the  invasion  of  Ireland,  and  had 
proceeded  as  far  as  Cadiz  on  his  way.   A  strange 
career  had  this  Thomas  Stukely,  and  his  story  ia 
characteristic  of  the  time.  It  was  of  course  from 
no  patriotic  motive  that  he  sought  to  levy  war  in 
Ireland,  where  his  antagonists  were  to  be  his  own 
countrymen  ; — nor  yet  from  religious  zeal :  for  he 
was,  in  truth,  an  undertaker,  and  was  setting 
forth  under  the  pope's  authority,  as  Essex  had 
come  under  Elizabeth's,  to  seek  his  fortune  and 
make  a  plantation  in  Ireland — poor  Ireland  I  that 
hunting-field  for  all  the  hungry  adventurers  of 
the  earth.    Essex  and  Smith  had  bound  them- 
selves, as  we  saw,  to  establish  the  queen's  religion 
in  their  settlements :  Stukely,  as  deriving  under 
the  pope,  was  to  uphold  Catholicity.  Elizabeth 
had  entitled  those  adventurers  Lords  of  Ards ; 
and  his  Holiness  duly  created  his  missionary 
(whether  by  letters  patent  or  papal  rescript  does 
not  appeal')  Marquis  of  Leinster,  Earl  of  Wex- 
ford and  Carlow,  Viscount  Murrough  and  Baron 
of  Ross.    When  he  and  his  six  hundred  arrived 
at  Cadiz,  i"-  happened  that  Dom  Sabastian  of 
Portugal  was  collecting  all  his  powers  for  a  dc" 
scent  upon  Africa,  to  reinstate  King  Mohammed 
on  the  throne  of  Fez,  and  also  to  found  for  him- 
self a  Portuguese  empire  upon  that  contine:nt. 
Stukely  was  dazzled  by  the  splendour  of  this 
African  undertaking  ;  and  when  Sebastian  prof 


LIFE   OF  HUGH   O  NEILL. 


61 


lerred  him  a  share  in  the  enterprize  he  speedily 
exchanged  his  Irish  earldom  for  a  principality  on 
the  Mediterranean  ; — perhaps  was  created  Duke 
of  Barbary  or  Prince  of  Mauritania — and  led 
his  freebooters  to  the  Moorish  war.  A  true  ad- 
venturer this — a  genuine  knight-errant  of  that 
age,  not  vowed  to  God  or  ladye-love,  but  to 
Mammon  and  Moloch.  This  poor  Stukely  indeed 
never  came  into  the  enjoyment  of  those  vast  es- 
tates and  honours  of  his,  whether  in  Africa  or 
in  Ireland.  Neither  was  the  Mauro-Lusitanian 
empire  ever  founded,  nor  King  Mohammed  rein- 
throned  ;  for,  on  the  bloody  field  of  Alca9ar- 
quivir,  swift  destruction  overtook  them  all.  There 
fell  three  crowned  kings,  ending  quarrel  and  life 
together,  and  with  them  died  this  most  singulai 
jNlnrquis  of  Leinster  nnd  Baron  of  Eoss. 

So  when  Fitzmaurice  reached  Spain  he  found 
that  Stukely  had  turned  his  face  southward,  and 
abandoned  the  cause  of  Ireland  :  but  for  him 
those  Moorish  kingdoms  had  no  attraction.  Not 
the  vales  of  Atlas,  nor  the  Atlantic  island  itself 
could  draw  him  aside.  Northward  lay  the  shores 
of  Munster,  where,  perhaps,  even  now  the  ad- 
herents of  the  Geraldine  were  hard  pressed  by 
those  accursed  English,  and  from  the  capes  of 
Desmond  were  gazing  wistfully  over  the  sea, 
pining  for  the  Spanish  ships.  At  last  three  smu.U 
vessels  ^cist  anchor  in  Smerwick  bay,  carrying 
Fitzmaurice  and  a  poor  band  of  eighty  Spaniards, 
accompanied  by  Allen  and  Saunders,  and  bearing 
a  consecrated  papal  banner,  in  the  sure  hope  that, 
if  not  for  love  of  liberty  and  old  Ireland,  yet  for 
tlic  sake  of  religion  and  to  save  their  souls  alive, 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEIL,!,. 


the  Irish  tribes  would  forget  their  feuds,  and 
unite  against  the  common  foe. 

And  now  it  is  heart-breaking  to  read  how 
poor  Fitzmaurice  and  his  Spaniards  were  re- 
ceived. Desmond's  two  brothers  indeed  joined 
him  at  once  ;  but  the  earl  himself,  with  some 
views  of  crafty  policy  which  one  finds  difficulty 
in  understanding,  long  held  aloof,  and  even  at 
first  pretended  to  obey  the  summons  of  Drury 
the  English  president,  and  raised  his  troops  to 
resist  the  invaders.  Time  was  wasted,  and  the 
Spaniards  were  sickened  by  their  cold  reception. 
In  vain  the  gallant  Fitzmaurice  traversed  Lime- 
rick, sent  messengers  to  Connaught  and  the  Scots, 
and  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Holy- Cross  in  Tippe- 
rary,  not  to  perform  his  vows  alone,  but  to  meet 
the  emissaries  of  the  Leinster  chieftains.  Before 
a  blow  was  struck  against  the  English,  Fitzmau- 
rice fell  in  a  quarrel  with  one  of  the  Burkes  of 
Castleconnell,  and  John  of  Desmond  took  the 
command  in  his  place. 

Some  obscurity  rests  upon  the  events  of  that 
desultory  war  which  followed  the  first  Spanish 
landing — English  historians  asserting  that  John 
of  Desmond  was  signally  defeated  by  Malby  at 
Monaster-neva,  and  that  Dr.  Allen  was  amongst 
the  slain* — O' Sullivan  and  O'Dalyf  that  the  Ge- 
raldines  were  victorious,  not  only  there,  bu( 
shortly  after  at  Atharlam  and  Gort-na-pissi.  On 
the  whole,  there  appears  to  have  been  nothing 
very  decisive  done  upon  either  side  until  the  fol 

•  Camden.  Queen  Eliz. 

t  O'Daly  is  cited  by  t'le  Abb6  Mac  Geoghejiar.. 


LIFE    OF   HIjGH  O'NEILL. 


63 


lowing  year,  when  the  Earl  of  Desmond  seeing 
his  lands  laid  waste,  and  himself  proclaimed  a 
traitor  by  the  English,  at  last  raised  his  stan- 
dard and  openly  joined  in  the  war.  The  earl 
wrote  to  Pelham,  the  Lord  Deputy,  announcing 
that  he  was  in  arms  for  the  Catholic  religion  ; 
sent  messengers  to  Fiach  Mac  Hugh,  chief  of  the 
O'Byrnes  of  AYicklow,  and  Eustace,  Lord  Bal- 
tinglass,  that  they  miglit  lay  waste  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Dublin,  and  keep  the  forces  of  the 
Pale  employed  ;  while  Desmond  himself  marched 
suddenly  against  Youghal,  which  he  took  by  es- 
calade, plundered,  and  garrisoned. 

In  the  meantime  the  Earl  of  Ormond  and  the 
English  generals,  Malby  and  Pelham,  were  was- 
ting and  plundering  the  county  of  Limerick: 
and  indeed  on  their  part  the  war  was  entirely 
carried  on  by  destroying  the  cattle  and  growing 
crops  of  the  country,  and  reducing  Desmond's 
castles  of  Carrig-a-foyle,  Askeaton,  Ballyhighan, 
and  Castlemaine.  There  was  no  pitclied-bnttle, 
"  so  that  in  all  that  warre  there  perished  not 
many  by  the  sword,  but  all  by  the  extremity  of 
famine."*  Tlie  cruellest  warfare  ever  waged  by 
man  ;  until  the  wiiole  territories  of  Desmond  lay 
a  smoking  desert  where  neither  man  nor  beast 
could  live.  The  Catholic  clergy  who  had  been 
the  principal  cause  of  the  war  were  pursued  witli 
unusual  fury  ;  and  eight  hundred  S[)aniards  who 
landed  at  Smerwick  in  September  1680  were  in- 
stantly besieged  there  by  Ormond,  and  shortly 
nl'Uir  invested  closely  both  by  sea  and  land,  uutiJ 


SiJenscr's  View 


64 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


they  surrendered  at  discretion  ;*  and  were  all  in 
cold  blood  massacred  by  order  of  Lord  Grey. 

The  most  powerful  opponent  of  Desmond  was 
his  hereditary  enemy  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  who 
was  assisted  also  by  the  Lord  Roche  and  othef 
Anglo-Irish  lords,  and,  rather  unaccountably,  by 
Hugh  CNeill  of  Dimgannon,  M'ho  commanded  a 
body  of  ca%  airy  for  the  queen.  One  would  pre- 
fer to  tind  this  Hugh  on  the  other  side  ;  but  il 
seems  that  the  nationality  of  an  O'Neill  did  not 
yet  extend  beyond  Ulster,  at  which  we  can  won- 
der the  less  when  we  read  that  in  the  southern 
war  the  greater  portion  of  the  Irish  race  was  on 
the  side  of  Elizabeth  and  at  feud  with  the  Ge- 
raldines.  Hugh  was  content  to  keep  the  English 
at  a  distance  from  his  own  territories,  and  had 
not  probably  at  that  period  conceived  the  grand 
design  of  ui)iting  all  Ireland  against  the  stranger. 
Of  his  achievements  in  the  South  we  have  no 
particular  record,  save  that  he  behaved  himself 
right  valiantly,  as  v/e  can  well  suppose  ;  and  fur- 
ther that  he  gained  the  good-will  of  his  ally  the 
Earl  of  Ormond,  for  it  was  one  of  the  gifts  of 
Hugh  O'Neill  that  he  irresistibly  attracted  to 
himself  the  hearts  of  all  men,  and  all  women  also, 
whose  love  he  desired  to  win. 

Two  other  very  notable  men  appear  in  the 
ranks  of  the  English,  in  that  Munster  war.  One 
is  Walter  Raleigh,  afterwards  Sir  W alter  ;  then 
one  of  the  most  active  of  Irish  undertakers  ;  des- 
tined to  be  a  planter  in  Virginia,  to  be  an  under* 

"  The  Irish  historians  ?ay  they  capitulated  on  sworr 
articles ;  but  Spenser  elaborately  controverts  this. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILIi. 


65 


taker  in  El  Dorado;  to  wander  wide  over  earth 
and  sea,  fighting  the  Spaniard,  chasing  phite 
fleets,  navigating  the  Orinoco: — and  alas!  des- 
tined also  to  drpe  his  weary  thirteen  years  in  the 
dungeons  of  London,  and  write  a  "  History  of 
the  World"  there,  and  at  last  to  lay  his  gray  head 
npon  the  block,  and  so  end  the  career  of  the 
"wildest  and  most  brilliant  adventurer  of  that  ad- 
venturous age 

And  the  other  is  Edmund  Spenser,  a  man  well 
known  to  Gloriana  and  all  the  realm  of  Faerie. 
He  came  over  in  the  train  of  Lord  Grey  of  Wil- 
ton,^ saw  the  horrible  ending  of  the  Geraldine 
war,  and  had  his  share  of  the  spoils.  Kilcolman 
castle  and  its  fair  domains  fell  to  the  j)oet  under- 
taker; and  there,  "under  the  foot  of  Mole,  that 
mountainlioar,"  dwelling  contentedly  in  another 
man's  house — sitting  in  quietness  under  another 
man's  vine  and  fig-tree,  within  view  of  the  smok- 
ing ruins  of  tower  and  town  and  the  unburied 
skeletons  of  a  famished  nation,  he  began  inditing 
that  solemn  and  tender  strain,  the  intent  of  which 
he  has  informed  us  is  "to  fashion  a  gentleman 
or  noble  person  in  vertuous  and  gentle  disci- 
pline,"— nay,  he  drew  inspiration  from  the  hi- 
deous Golgotha  that  lay  around  him ;  and  when  his 
Merlin  tells  of  the  ravage  to  be  made  by  king 
Gormonde,t  he  has  ouly  to  describe  what  the 
poet  saw  with  his  mere  bodily  eye  in  the  vales  of 
Munster; 

"He  in  his  fnrie  all  shall  over-ronne, 

And  holy  church  with  faithless  hands  deface. 


*  1580. 


f  "Faerie  Qucenc,"  B.  3,  c.  3. 

E 


66 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  0*NEILI.. 


Tliat  thy  sad  people,  utterly  fordonne, 
Shall  to  the  utmost  mountains  fly  apace; 
Was  never  so  great  waste  in  any  place, 
Nor  so  fov/le  outrage  doen  by  living  men ; 
Tor  all  thy  citties  they  shall  sack  and  rase. 
And  the  greene  grasse  that  groweth  tliey  shall  brea 
That  even  the  wilde  beast  shall  dy  in  starved  den  "* 

From  Kilcolraan  also  the  poet  took  that  most  as- 
tonishing "  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland/'  of 
which  we  shall  see  more  hereafter; — a  most 
practical  view, — the  view  not  of  a  bard  but  of  an 
undertaker,  whereby  we  find,  that  however  his 
imagination  may  have  bled  for  enchanted  damo- 
sels  or  eifin  knights,  suffering  sentimental  woes, 
the  heart  of  him,  in  dealing  with  mere  living 
wights,  was  harder  than  the  nether  millstone. 

At  last  all  the  Munster  and  Leinster  Irish 
were  broken  and  reduced,  except  the  redoubtable 
Fiacli  Mac  Hugh  of  Wicklow  ;  and  during  all 
this  long  and  inglorious  war  the  only  day  of 
which  one  can  speak  with  pleasure,  is  tlie  day  of 
Glendalough.  Immediately  on  Lord  Grey's  ar- 
rival in  Dublin — it  was  the  summer  of  1580 — he 
led  a  large  force  of  horse  and  foot  into  the  moun- 
tains, fully  resolved  to  grapple  with  the  fit  rce 
O'Byrne  in  his  own  strongholds,  and  crush  ihat 
gallant  sept  for  ever.  When  the  army  ari'ived 
at  the  entrance  of  the  valley,  the  cavalry  under 
command  of  Grey  himself  scoured  the  open 

•  '*  The  very  wolves,  the  foxes,  and  other  like  ravening 
beasts,  many  of  them  lay  dead,  being  famisihed." — Holin- 
ched.  See  also  Spenser's  own  horrible  j)icture  of  thi* 
amine. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neILL. 


67 


ground  while  the  foot  were  ordered  to  advance 
into  the  glen.  The  O'Byrnes  allowed  them  to 
proceed  into  the  silent  recesses  of  the  mountain, 
wondering  that  they  found  no  enemy, — and  then 
suddenly  shouting  their  battle-cry,  rushed  from 
all  sides  upon  the  sagums  dearg,  and  hewed 
them  to  pieces  till  their  arms  were  weary  with 
slaying.  Grey  and  his  horsemen  could  give  no 
assistance,  and  had  to  retreat  much  more  rapidly 
than  they  had  advanced,  leaving  in  that  fatal  glen 
eight  hundred  slain,  and  amongst  them  Sir  Peter 
Carew,  Colonel  Moore,  and  Captains  Audley  and 
Cosby.  Never,  since  black  Monday  at  Cullens- 
ivood,  had  the  sword  of  the  Cullane  mountaineer 
drank  so  deep  of  the  stranger's  blood. 

But  this  was  of  no  service  to  the  luckless  Des- 
mond. He  was  hard  pressed  by  his  mortal  ene- 
mies the  Butlers.  His  Spanish  auxiliaries  were 
cut  off,  and  the  coast  blockaded  by  Admiral  Win- 
ter with  the  English  cruisers.  Most  of  the  Mun- 
ster  lords  were  either  weary  of  the  war  or  in  the 
ranks  of  England.  His  country  was  a  howling 
wilderness, — himself  an  aged  and  homeless  fugi- 
tive, and  at  last  in  a  wood  near  Tralee,  he  fell  by 
the  hand  of  a  common  soldier,  and  his  head  was 
Bent  to  the  Queen  of  England,  who  caused  it  to 
be  impaled  in  the  usual  manner  upon  London 
bridge. 

Thus  fell  the  great  Earl  of  Desmond ;  and 
thus  the  fairest  province  of  this  island,  wasted 
and  destroyed  by  tlie  insane  warfare  of  the  Irish 
themselves.  Lay  ready  for  the  introduction  of  the 
foreigner's  law,  civilization  and  religion  ;  or,  aa 
Doctor  Lcland  lias  it,  "  for  effectually  regulating 


ss 


LIFE   OF   HUGH  0"??EI1.L. 


and  modelling  this  country  upon  the  principles  of 
justice  and  liberal  policy."*  And  accordingly  a 
parliament  was  soon  held  for  the  purpose  of  vest- 
ing in  the  Queen  of  England  all  the  lands  which 
had  been  inhabited  by  the  kinsmen  and  adherents 
of  Desmond.  Letters  were  written  to  ever} 
county  in  England  offering  estates  in  fee  to  all 
"  younger  brothers"  who  would  undertake  the 
plantation  of  Munster  ;  each  undertaker  to  plant 
so  many  families  ;  but  "  none  of  the  native  Irish 
to  be  admitted."!  No  specific  mode  of  disposing 
of  these  poor  native  Irish  seems  to  have  been 
pointed  out  in  any  official  document ;  but  how 
the  thing  was  done  we  know — they  were  sim- 
ply starved  to  death  ;  and  the  end  was  attained 
more  speedily  than  poet  Spenser  tells  us  he  could 
even  have  hoped.  "  The  end  will  (I  assure  me) 
be  very  short,  and  much  sooner  than  can  be  hoped 
for  ;  although  there  should  none  of  them  fall  by 
the  sword,  nor  be  slaine  by  the  souldiours,  yet  thus 
being  kept  from  manurance,  and  tlieir  cattle  from 
running  abroad,  by  this  hard  restraint  they  would 
quickly  consume  themselves  and  devoure  one  ano- 
ther."! And  so  "  in  a  short  space  there  were 
none  almost  left,  and  a  most  populous  and  plenti- 
f  uU  countrey  suddainly  left  voyde  of  man  and  beast." 
And  starvation  being  in  some  instances  too  slow, 
crowds  of  men,  women,  and  children  were  some* 
times  driven  into  buildings  which  were  then  set 
on  lire.    The  soldiers  were  specially  careful  to 

■  ♦  Leland's  History,  vol.  2,  p.  291. 
+  MS.  in  Trin.  ColL  cited  by  Leland. 
^  Spenser's  View^  p.  ?66. 


I.IFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL  69 

destroy  all  Irish  infants — "  for  if  they  were  suf- 
fered to  grow  up,  they  would  become  popish  re^ 
bels^''  ^Vomen  were  found  hanging  upon  trees, 
With  their  children  strangled  in  the  mother^s 

hiiir/'*  

But  we  turn  from  those  fields  of  blood,  and 
come  back  to  the  North. 


**  LoiDlKi'd,  Comment,  de  lliberu,  ap.  Cuny, 


ro 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILIi. 


CHAPTER  VI, 

BEGINNING  OF  THE  ULSTER  CONFEDERA.C*/. 

A.  D.  1584—1590. 

The  Antrim  Scots  had  grown  numerous  and 
powerful  during  the  Geraliline  war.  New  bands 
of  Iplesnien  had  arrived  from  the  Hebrides  ;  and 
Tiilouuli  of  Tyr-owen  being  old  and  weak,  and 
Baron  Hugh  absent  in  the  South,  there  seemed 
some  danger  that  Ulster  would  fall  under  their 
power.  This  ill  suited  the  views  of  Hugh 
0  Neill,  who  had  designs  of  his  own  in  that  re- 
gard ;  and  accordingly  in  this  year,  1584,  we  find 
there  was  a  powerful  expedition  to  the  North. 
Sir  John  Perrot,  Hugh  O'Neill,  and  his  friend, 
the  Earl  of  Ormond,  with  all  the  forces  of  the 
Pale,  marched  to  Newry,  separated  their  forces 
there,  and  prepared  to  attack  the  Scots  both  in 
Claneboy  and  Tyr-owen.  Some  English  ships 
were  sent  round  to  Lough  Foyle  to  intercept  the 
communication  with  the  isles  ;  while  Perrot  and 
Ormond  marched  northward  by  the  right  shore  of 
Lough  Neagh  and  the  Bann,  and  O'Neill  and 
Norris  on  the  left,  driving  the  Scots  before  them 
and  plundering  their  Irish  allies.  The  O'Cahans 
of  Arachty,  (or,  as  it  is  now  called,  the  "  county 
of  Londonderry,")  were  in  league  with  the  Scots ; 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nE11.L.. 


71 


and  from  them  Norris  drove  a  prey  of  two  hun- 
dred head  of  cattle.  Dunluce  Castle  was  be* 
sieged  by  Perrot  and  taken  ;  and  at  last  the  Scots 
were  forced  to  fly  to  the  woods  of  Glancom- 
keane  ;*  and  their  leader,  Sorley  buidhe  Mac 
Oonnell,  surrendered  and  gave  hostages  to  the 
de^ju'.y.  The  troops  then  marched  to  Newry, 
ivhere  Sir  Henry  Bagnal  resided ;  and  here  the 
deputy  received  "submissions"  from  several  chiefs 
of  Down  and  Armao^h. 

Hitherto  Hugh  O'Neill  seemed  to  have  an- 
swered the  expectations  of  the  English  court  in 
promoting  their  designs  against  the  liberty  of 
Ireland.  Ulster  seemed  about  to  yield  its  inde- 
pendence without  even  a  struggle :  and  so  well 
assured  was  Perrot  of  the  submission  of  the 
North,  that  he  forthwith  divided  the  whole  cour. 
try  west  of  the  Bann  into  seven  new  counties, 
Armagh,  Monaghan,  Tyr-owen,  Coleraine,  Done- 
gal, Fermanagh,  and  Cavan,  for  each  of  which 
the  P^nglish  historians  assure  us  he  appointed 
sheriffs,  commissioners  of  the  peace,  coroners, 
and  other  necessary  officers  an  arrangement 
most  satisfactory  to  the  deputy  and  his  eniploy- 
ers,  if,  indeed,  it  existed  anywhere  else  than  in 
state  papers, — a  matter  whicii  needs  some  in- 
quiry. 

The  trutli  then  is,  that  in  all  these  proceedings 
Hugh  O'Neill,  while  lie  seemed  to  be  an  instru 

•  This  was  an  extensive  forest  on  tlie  north-west  cor 
ner  of  Louj^h  Neaf^li,  in  Arachty  O'Calian.  Moryson, 
with  liis  usual  inaccuracy,  says  it  was  a  fastness  near 
Lou(jk  Erne.  It  is  correctly  laid  down  in  the  map  ac- 
company ing  the  Pacata  Hihernia 


72 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


merit  in  the  hands  of  Perrot  for  reducing  the 

North  under  foreign  subjection,  was,  in  fact, 
making  use  of  the  deputy  and  the  forces  of  Eliza- 
beth to  establish  his  own  power  there.  By  the 
aid  of  Perrot  he  humbled  the  Scots  of  Antrim 
(who  had  begun  to  rival  the  house  of  O'Neill,) 
and,  in  return,  permitted  that  officer  to  imagine 
that  he  was  making  "  shire-ground'*  of  Ulster, 
although  for  a  long  time  after  this  no  agent  of 
the  queen  dared  to  enter  the  borders  of  those 
seven  counties  or  challenge  jurisdiction  there. 
Tliose  sheriffs  and  coroners,  like  the  queen's 
northern  bishops,  were  merely  titular  ;  and  Sir 
John  Davies  expressly  informs  us  that  in  Perrot's 
time  "  the  lavi^  was  never  executed  in  these  new 
counties  by  any  slieriffs  or  justices  of  assize,  but 
the  people  left  to  be  ruled  by  their  own  barba- 
rous lords  and  laws,"* — pronouncing  tliose  laws 
"  barbarous,"  as  for  an  attorney-general  of  the 
Pale  it  was  altogether  professional  to  do. 

And  so  long  as  the  queen  and  her  deputies  ex 
ercised  no  power  in  Ulster,  O'Neill's  policy  was 
(not  like  that  wild  Sliane)  to  acquiesce  most 
courtier-like  in  the  nominal  supremacy  arrogated 
by  the  English  monarch  ; — a  crafty  policy,  which 
the  present  writer  is  called  upon  only  to  state, 
not  to  defend  by  logics  and  ethics  ;  yet  it  is  well 
to  recollect,  Avho  were  the  men  with  whom  he  had 
to  do, — for  what  base  uses  they  had  treacherously 
destined  him, — what  a  cruel  game  they  were 
playing  with  him  and  with  his  country. 

For  two  years,  we  have  little  record  of  O'Neill's 


"Di5COvery  of  the  Tru^j  Cause,"  ka.,  p.  191. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


73 


life  5  but  he  was  silently  strengthening  himself 
in  the  North,  and  gaining  the  hearts  of  the  clans- 
men of  Tyr-owen.  While  the  accomplished  no- 
bleman was  growing  in  favour  with  Elizabeth 
and  her  court,  the  Irish  chieftain  was  gradually 
getting  recognized  as  the  main  hope  and  leader 
of  the  Kinel  Eoghain.  Nay,  he  took  a  manifest 
pleasure  in  sustaining  those  two  characters  ;  and 
one  can  hardly  say  whether  he  was  most  at  home 
in  the  halls  of  Greenwich  or  Dungannon.  In 
the  year  1587  we  find  him  in  London,  where  he 
was  ever  a  welcome  visitor,  soliciting  the  queen 
(Ah  !  that  "  profound  dissembling  heart,")  that 
he  might  be  admitted  to  the  honours  and  estates 
of  Earl  of  Tyr-owen,  under  the  "  letters  patent" 
granted  to  his  grandfiither,  Con  the  Lame.  To 
gain  the  favour  of  Elizabeth,  it  was  always  need- 
ful "  to  feign  love  and  desire  towards  her,  to  ad- 
dress her  in  the  style  of  passion  and  O'Neill, 
\>ith  a  tongue  that  "  dropt  manna,"  well  knew 
the  art  of  flattery.  Much  affectionate  advice  he 
gave  the  queen  as  to  the  good  government  of  Ire- 
land, and  specially  solicited  that  the  law  against 
assuming  the  name  of  O'Neill^  a  most  pestilent 
and  rebellious  name,  might  be  strictly  enforced  ; 
so  the  letters  patent  were  issued,  and  the  queen 
solemnly  invested  liim  with  both  lands  and  title, 
(of  which  the  former  were  not  hers  to  grant,  and 
the  latter  his  soul  abhorred,)  reserving,  however, 
\  small  piece  of  ground  on  the  Blackwater,  for  a 
fortress  which  was  to  be  built  there  ;  and  with 
certain  stipulations  for  the  benefit  of  old  Tirlougb 


*  See  Ilume — note  in  chap.  41 


74 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEII.L, 


Lynnogli,  who  still  held  the  nominal  cii'ieftainoy 
of  the  cou'itiy. 

Hugh  returned  to  Ireland  with  his  letters  pa- 
tent, a  belted  earl :  and  here,  as  a  favoured  cour- 
tier of  the  queen,  the  deputy  was  obliged  to  treat 
him  with  deference  and  honour  ;  while  his  in- 
creasing influence  in  Ulster  gradually  stripped 
Tirlough,  the  legitimate  prince,  of  his  power  and 
numerous  following  ;  and  it  became  manifest  that 
the  grandson  of  the  Dundalk  blacksmith  would 
soon  predominate  in  the  North.  Those  six  com- 
panies of  troops  also  that  he  kept  on  foot  (in  the 
queen's  name,  but  for  his  own  behoof)  began  to 
be  suspicious  in  the  eyes  of  the  state  :  for  it  is 
much  feared  that  he  changes  the  men  so  soon  as 
they  thoroughly  learn  the  use  of  arms,  replacing 
them  by  others,  all  of  his  own  clansmen,  whom 
he   diligently    drills    and    reviews    lor  somo 

unknown  service  And  the  lead  he  imports, — 

surely  the  roofing  of  that  house  of  Dungannon 
will  not  need  all  these  ship-loads  of  lead ; — lead 
enough  to  sheet  Glenshane,  or  clothe  the  sides  of 
Cairntocher.  And,  indeed,  a  rumour  does  reach 
the  deputy  in  Dublin,  tliat  there  goes  on  at  Dun- 
gannon an  incredible  casting  of  bullets.  No 
wonder  that  the  eyes  of  the  English  governor 
began  to  turn  anxiously  to  the  north. 

Now  it  happened  that  O'Donnell,  on  the  far 
north- west,  was  just  then  in  high  rage  against  "the 
foreigners  of  Dublin"  by  reason  of  some  inti- 
mation conveyed  to  him  by  Perrot,  that  the 
ancient  patrimony  of  the  Kinel  Conell  was  now 
*'  shire  ground,"  and  ought  to  admit  a  sheriff. 
And  the  chieftain's  voutliful  son,  the  eallant  lie<i 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neIXL. 


75 


H\igh,  tlien  a  fiery  stripling  of  fifteen,  was  already 
known  throughout  the  five  provinces  of  Ireland, 
not  only  "  by  the  report  of  his  beauty,  his  agility, 
and  noble  deeds,"  but  as  a  sworn  foe  to  the  Sax- 
ons of  the  Pale.  Moreover,  "  the  English  knew,'* 
says  the  chronicler  of  Hugh  Roe,  "  that  it  was 
J udith,  the  daughter  of  O'Donnell,  and  sister  of 
the  before-mentioned  Hugh,  that  was  the  spouse 
and  best-beloved  of  the  Earl  O'Neill."*  And  if 
this  princely  Red  Hugh  should  live  to  take  the 
leading  of  his  sept, — and  if  the  two  potent  chief- 
tains of  the  North  should  forget  their  ancient 
feud  and  unite  for  the  cause  of  Ireland ; — then, 
indeed,  not  only  this  settlement  of  the  Ulster 
"  counties"  must  be  adjourned,  one  knows  not 
how  long ;  but  the  Pale  itself  or  the  very  Castle 
of  Dublin  might  hardly  protect  her  majesty's 
officers.  These  were  contingencies  which  any 
prudent  agent  of  the  Queen  of  England  must 
speedily  take  order  to  prevent ;  and  we  are  now 
to  see  Perrot's  device  for  that  end. 

Near  RathmuUan,  on  the  western  shore  of 
Lough  Swilly,  looking  towards  the  mountains  of 
Inishowen,  stood  a  monastery  of  Carmelites,  and 
a  church  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  tiie 
most  famous  place  of  devotion  in  Tyrconnell, 
wliither  all  the  Clan-Conell,  both  chiefs  and  peo- 
ple, made  r(;sort  at  certain  seasons  to  pay  tlieii"  de- 
votions. Here  the  young  Red  Hugh,  with  jVlae 
Sv/'yne  of  the  Jnittle-axes,  O'Gallagher  of  Bally- 
shannon,  and  some  other  chiefs,  were,  in  the  sum- 

*  MS.  LifeofRea  Hugh  O  Donnell  in  Lifraiiy  of 
E.  I.  A.,  translated  from  the  Irish  by  O'lleilly.  p.  3. 


76 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


mer  of  1587,  sojourning  a  short  time,  in  part  to 
pay  their  vows  of  religion  ;  but  not  witliout  stag- 
hounds  and  implements  of  chase,  having  views 
upon  the  red-deer  of  Van^'l  px=(1  Jnishowen.  One 
day,  while  the  prinob  was  here,  a  swift-sailing 
merchant  ship  doubled  the  promontory  of  Dunali*, 
stood  up  the  lough,  and  cast  anchor  opposite 
Rathmullan  ;  a  "  bark,  black-hatched,  deceptive," 
bearing  the  flag  of  England,  and  offering  for  sale, 
as  a  peaceful  trader,  her  cargo  of  Spanish  wine. 
And  surely  no  more  courteous  merchant  than  the 
master  of  that  ship  had  visited  the  North  for  many 
a  year.  He  invited  the  people  most  hospitably  on 
board,  solicited  them,  whethsr  purchasers  or  not, 
to  partake  of  his  good  cheer,  entertained  them 
with  music  and  wine,  and  so  gained  very  speedily 
the  good  will  of  all  Fanad, 

Red  Hugh  and  his  companions  soon  heard  of 
the  obliging  merchant  and  his  rare  wines.  They 
visited  the  ship  where  they  were  received  with 
all  respect,  and  indeed  with  unfeigned  joy ;  des- 
cended into  the  cabin,  and  with  connoisseur  dis- 
crimination tried  and  tasted,  and  finally  drank 
too  deeply  :  and  at  last  when  they  would  come 
on  deck  and  return  to  the  shore  they  found  them- 
selves secured  under  hatches  ;  their  weapons  had 
been  removed  ;  night  had  fallen  ;  they  were  pri- 
soners to  those  traitor  Saxons.  Morning  dawned, 
and  they  looked  anxiously  towards  the  shore ; 
but,  ah .  where  is  RathmuUan  and  the  Carmelite 
church?  And  what  wild  coast  is  this?  Past 
Malin  and  the  cliffs  of  Inishowen  ;  past  Ben- 


LIFR   OF  HUGH  0*NEILIi. 


77 


more,  and  southwards  by  the  shores  of  Antrim 
and  the  mountains  of  Mourne  flew  that  ill- 
omened  bark,  and  never  dropped  anchor  till  she 
lay  under  the  towers  of  Dublin.  The  treache- 
rous Perrot  joyfully  received  his  prize,  and  "ex- 
ulted," says  an  historian,  "  in  the  easiness  and 
success  with  which  he  had  procured  hostages  for 
the  j)eaceable  submission  of  O'Donnell."*  And 
the  prince  of  Tyrconnell  was  thrown  into  "  a 
strong  stone  castle,"  and  kept  in  heavy  irons 
three  years  and  three  months,  "  meditating," 
says  tlie  chronicle,  "  on  the  feeble  and  impotent 
condition  of  his  friends  and  relations,  of  his 
princes  and  supreme  chiefs,  of  his  nobles  and 
clergy,  his  poets  and  professors."!  Where  we 
leave  him  for  the  present,  to  mingle  vows  of 
deepest  vengeance  with  those  of  many  other 
noble  youths,  "  both  Gadelians  and  Fingallians," 
fellow  captives  with  him  in  those  accursed  towers. 

Meanwhile,  in  Ulster,  Hugh  O'Neill  was  busy  in 
the  task  lie  had  now  resolutely  imposed  on  himself, 
striving  to  heal  the  feuds  of  rival  chiefs,  and  out  of 
those  discordant  elements  to  create  and  bind  toge- 
ther an  Irish  nation — a  noble  design,  for  which 
perhaps  the  time  was  still  unripe;  yet  somewhat  he 
did  accomj)lish  in  that  direction.  With  O'Cahan, 
whose  territories  he  had  wasted  with  hre  and 
sword  three  years  before,  he  now  reconciled  him- 
self, and  sent  his  infant  son  to  be  fostered  by  that 
chieftnin,  and  to  l(;ai-n  speed  and  strength  among 
the  hills  of  Glen-gi\  cn,  by  tlic  banks  of  the  crjs- 


*  Ldanfl. 

t  MS.  Life  of  O'Douncll,  p.  b. 


T8 


LIFE   OF  HUGH   O  NEIUU 


tal  Roe,  to  back  a-horse,  and  to  chase  the  deer 
of  Arachty.  "With  the  Mac  Donnells  of  Antrim 
he  renewed  his  friendship,  and  lent  them  on  some 
of  their  expeditions  a  body  of  his  well-trained 
galloglasses ;  not  without  promise  of  like  help 
from  them,  if  need  should  be.  Other  chieftains 
ho  encouraged  to  resist  the  intrusion  of  sheritFs 
or  garrisons  for  the  Queen  of  England.  It  was 
even  said  that  he  harboured  "  seminaries"  and 
foreign  priests,  than  which  nothing  was  then  ac- 
counted more  suspicious  to  a  Protestant  state. 
Yet  O'Neill  was  apparently  no  strict  Catholic  ; 
and,  while  in  Dublin,  scrupled  not  "  to  accom- 
pany the  Lord  Deputy  to  the  church  and  home 
again,  and  to  stay  and  hear  service,  though  the 
very  nobles  of  the  Pale,"  as  Captain  Lee  declares, 
*'  as  soon  as  they  have  brought  him  to  the  church 
door,  depart  as  if  they  were  wild  cats."*  In- 
deed honest  Lee  has  no  doubt  that,  "  with  good 
conference,"  he  would  even  be  reformed^  "  for 
he  hath  only  one  little  cub  of  an  English 
priest,  by  whom  he  is  seduced  for  want  of  his 
friends'  access  to  him,  who  might  otherwise 
uphold  him."  On  the  whole  a  most  complying 
conciliatory,  and  courteous  man,  "  a  special  good 
member,"  as  one  might  hope,  "  of  that  common- 
wealth but  still,  no  sheriffs,  no  bishops,j"  no 
judges.    North  of  Slieve  Gulliw,  the  venerable 

*  Lee's  Memorial. 

f  There  was  lio-vvever  at  this  period,  and  for  some  time 
before,  a  clerical  person  with  the  English  garrison  in 
Lecale,  really  chaplain  to  that  garrison,  (the  only  Pro- 
testants in  his  diocess,)  but  purporting  to  he  Bishop  of 
Down,  and  even  of  Connor. 


MFE   or  HUGH  O'NSILL. 


79 


Brehons  still  arbitrate  undisturbed  the  causes  of 
the  people  ;  the  ancient  laws,  civilization  and  re- 
ligion stand  untouched.  Nay  it  is  credibly 
rumoured  to  the  Dublin  deputy  that  this  noble 
earl,  forgetful  apparently  of  his  coronet,  and 
golden  chain,  and  of  his  high  favour  with  so 
potent  a  princess,  does  about  this  time  get  recog- 
nized and  solemnly  inaugurated  as  chieftain  of  his 
sept,  by  the  proscribed  name  of  The  O'Neill ; 
and  at  the  rath  of  Tulloghoge,  on  the  Stone  of 
Koyalty,  amidst  the  circling  warriors,  amidst  the 
bards  and  Ollamhs  of  Tyr-eoghain,  "  receives  an 
oath  to  preserve  all  the  auncient  former  customs 
of  the  countrey  inviolable,  and  to  deliver  up  the 
succession  peaceably  to  his  Tanist ;  and  then  hath 
a  wand  delivered  unto  him  by  one  whose  proper 
office  that  is ;  after  which,  descending  from  the 
stone,  he  turneth  himself  round,  thrice  forward 
and  thrice  backward," — even  as  the  O'Neills  had 
done  for  a  thousand  years :  altogether  in  the  most 
un-English  manner,  and  with  the  strangest  cere- 
monies, which  no  garter  king-at-arms  could  endure. 

The  foreign  policy  also  of  the  Northern  chiefs 
received  some  strength  at  this  period.  In  the 
year  1588,  the  mighty  remnants  of  King  Philip's 
vast  armada,  storm-tost  and  sorely  buffeted  by 
the  wild  sea  of  tlie  Orkneys  and  Hebrides,  came 
swee[)ing  past  the  northern  coast  of  Ireland  ;  and 
the  Clan-Conal  beheld  with  wonder  those  por- 
tentous floating  fortresses,  such  as  the  Fomorian 
and  Phoenician  navigators  of  the  northern  sea3 
had  never  sailed.  But  as  the  Spaniards  made 
the  headlands  of  Antrim,  a  storm  came  upon 
them  from  the  north-west ;  and  with  the  iron 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


coast  of  Inishowen  and  Horn-head  upon  tlieir  lee, 
with  grievous  toil  and  danger,  the  poor  mariners 
had  to  struggle  westward  and  double  those  ter- 
rible cliffs.  Many  were  dashed  to  pieces  and 
utterly  lost,  both  ships  and  men  ;  but  some  were 
driven  into  the  harbours,  and  received  from  the 
neighbouring  chieftains  relief  and  hospitality,* 
until  they  found  means  to  return  into  their  own 
country.  The  O'Donnell,  indeed,  father  to  our 
imprisoned  Hugh  Roe,  who  seems  to  have  been 
a  weak  old  man,  and  much  under  the  influence 
of  two  P^nglishmen,  named  Kovenden,  whom  he 
permitted  to  reside  in  his  country,  was  led  to 
regard  the  unfortunate  Spaniards  as  enemies  and 
invaders  (forgetful  that  the  enemies  of  England 
must  needs  be  his  friends),  and  when  a  large 
ship  was  driven  into  Lough  Foyle  and  staved  to 
pieces  on  the  Inishowen  rocks,  O'Donnell  and 
the  Ilovendens  attacked  the  shipwrecked  crew  at 
Elagh  near  Derry,  killed  some  of  them  and  sent 
the  rest  as  prisoners  to  the  Deputy.  (Oh  !  that 
Red  Hugh  had  but  been  there  !)  But  the 
Mac  Swynes  and  other  chiefs  of  Tyr-connell 
were  more  humane,  or  better  knew  their  natural 
allies.  A  ship  under  the  command  of  Don  An- 
tonio de  Leyva  was  driven  upon  the  coast  be- 
tween Sligo  and  Ballyshannon,  and  O'Ruarc, 
Prince  of  Breffni,  afforded  them  not  only  an 
asylum,  but  protection  against  Bingham,  an  Eng- 
lish officer  who  held  some  places  in  Connaught, 
and  who  presumed  to  demand  from  O'Ruarc 
his  shipwrecked  guests  as  the  queen's  prisoners.j 


Morysoa . 


t  O'SuUivan. 


OFK    OF   HUGH   O  NEILl.. 


81 


But,  above  all,  the  O'Neill,  who  foresaw  advan- 
bges  to  be  derived  from  a  Spanish  alliance,  was 
most  distiniruished  for  the  kindness  shown  to 
those  fugitives.  He  received  them  with  honour 
at  Dungannon,  treated  them  with  high  conside- 
ration, conversed  with  them  on  the  policy  of  King 
Philip  and  the  Catholic  powers;  and  doubtless 
explained  to  them,  for  the  information  of  their 
master,  the  situation  of  the  North  ; — how  the 
old  Irish  hated  the  Queen  of  England  and  hoped 
in  King  Philip — how  the  vSpanish  landing  at 
Smerwick  had  proved  unavailing  by  reason  of 
the  powerful  English  faction  in  Munster ;  and 
how  diiFerently  a  band  of  auxiliary  Spaniards 
would  be  received  amongst  the  aboriginal  septs 
of  the  North. 

And  now  the  new  Deputy,  Fitzwilliam,  assisted 
the  views  of  O'Neill  by  his  treatment  of  a  north- 
ern cliief  who  was  weak  enough  to  trust  an  Eng- 
lish governor.  Plugh  Mac  Mahon,  on  the  death  of 
his  brother  the  chieftain  of  that  sept,  found  him- 
self opposed  by  several  other  branches  of  the 
family  who  also  aspired  to  the  chieftaincy.  These 
were  Patrick,  son  of  Art,  Ebhir,  or  Ever  chief  of 
Farney,  and  Brien  of  Dartry.  Singly  he  could 
not  cope  with  his  powerful  rivals,  and  applied, 
in  an  evil  hour,  to  Fitzwilliam,  requesting  his 
alliance,  and  the  assistance  of  the  Pale  to  esta- 
blish liim  in  his  inheritance,  as  he  called  it:  for 
the  deceased  ]\Iac  Mahon  liad  been  one  of  those 
who  surrendered  liis  country  to  the  queen  and 
took  a  "  re-grant"  of  it,  by  English  tenure,  to 
him  and  his  heirs,  with  remainder,  in  default  of 


62 


LITE   OP  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


heirs  male,  to  his  brother  Hugh,*  which  was  Ito 
reason  of  the  threatened  war ;  for  Monaghan  lika 
Tyr-owen  and  Thomond,  could  not  abide  re- 
grants,  estates  tail,  or  "  English  tenures."  Ma<j 
Mahon's  application  was  right  welcome  to  the 
English  who .  desired  nothing  so  much  as  an  op- 
portunity of  interfering  between  the  Irish  chiefs, 
and  so  of  strengthening  foreign  influence  at  the 
expense  of  all  the  contending  parties. 

Fitzwilliam  in  the  first  place  demanded  a  pre- 
sent of  six  hundred  cows  ("  for  such  and  no  other," 
says  Moryson,  "  are  the  Irish  bribes,")  and  then 
the  Deputy  marched  northwards  pretending  to 
consider  the  whole  matter  referred  to  his  decision, 
and,  that  he  might  adjudicate  with  dignity,  took 
possession  of  Monaghan  which  he  garrisoned  for 
the  queen  ;  and  then  awarded  to  his  ally  Mac 
Mahon  the  nominal  chieftaincy  over  a  small  part 
of  his  territory,  and  to  his  rivals  the  exclusivo 
rule  over  certain  other  portions  :  thus  dividing^, 
according  to  an  immemorial  English  maxim,  the 
folluwing  of  a  potent  chieftain  amongst  several 
hostile  claimants,  and  so  breaking,  as  he  hoped, 
the  power  of  their  resistance  to  foreign  encroach' 
ment.  Then  poor  Mac  Mahon  having  failed  ic 
some  part  of  the  stipulated  payment,  (as  feeling, 
perhaps,  that  he  had  not  received  value,)  waG  ar- 
rested by  order  of  Fitzwilliam,  who  immediately 
proceeded  once  more  to  Monaghan  with  consi- 
derable forces  to  "  settle"  that  country  finally 
A  charge  was  soon  found  against  the  prisoner. 
He  had  lately  raised  his  tribute  iu  the  usual  man» 


•  Moryson. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


83 


ner  from  his  refractory  tributary  of  Farney,  by 
.eading  thither  a  military  expedition  and  driving 
away  the  spoil ;  which  if  it  were  not  a  levying  of 
war  against  the  queen,  the  Deputy  could  not  tell 
•yhat  it  was.  Yet,  not  to  condemn  without  hear- 
ing, or  refuse  a  subject  the  benefits  of  English 
law — and  perhaps  with  a  view  of  shewing  the 
northerns  what  was  that  happy  system  of  polity 
which  they  contumeliously  rejected — a  jury  was 
to  be  empanelled  to  try  Mac  Mahon — the  first 
jury  in  Ulster — the  composition  and  arrangement 
of  which  deserve  study  as  affording  a  model  in 
that  kind. 

Spenser  has  informed  us  of  the  difficulties 
which  attended  trial  by  jury  in  Ireland  at  that 
time  ;  for  "  most  of  the  freeholders,"  says  Ire- 
nseus,  "  are  Irish,  which  when  the  cause  shall  fall 
betwixt  an  Englishman  and  an  Irish,  or  between 
the  queen  and  any  freeholder  of  that  country, 
they  make  no  more  scruple  to  pass  against  an 
Englishman  and  the  queen,  though  it  bee  to 
strayn  their  oathes,  than  to  drinke  milke  un- 
strayned,"*  the  inconvenience  of  which  he  thus 
laments : — "  J  dare  undertake  that  at  this  day 
bhere  are  more  attainted  lands  concealed  from 
her  majestic  than  she  hath  now  possession  of  in 
all  Ireland  ;  and  it  is  no  small  inconvenience ; 
for  besides  tliat  she  looseth  so  much  lande  as 
should  turne  to  her  great  profite,she  besides  looseth 
BO  many  good  subjects  which  miglit  be  assured 
unto  her  as  those  lands  would  yeelde  inliabitants 
and  living  unto."    And  when  Eudoxus  suggests 


Spenser's  View,  p.  33. 


h4 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


that  all  this  "  might  be  much  helped  in  the  judges 
and  cheefe  mas^istrates  which  have  the  choosing 
and  nomination  of  those  jurors,  if  they  woul(? 
have  dared  to  appoint  either  most  Englishmen  or 
such  Ij-ishmen  as  were  of  the  soundest  judgment 
and  disposition,^^  Irenteus  immediately  objects — 
"  Then  would  the  Irish  partie  crie  out  of  par- 
tiality and  complaine,  he  hath  no  justice — he  is 
not  used  as  a  subject." 

Now,  in  arranging  this  jury  to  try  Mac  Mahon, 
it  is  too  clear  that  the  Deputy  was  not  so 
well  acquainted  with  the  delicate  theory  of 
juries  as  subsequent  officers  became  ;  yet  in  his 
own  rude  way  he  attained  the  end  very  well 
Twelve  soldiers  were  empanelled  on  the  shortest 
notice,  of  whom  four,  being  Englishmen,  wer? 
suffered  to  go  and  come  at  pleasure,  and  the  other 
eight,  being  of  Irish  birth,  by  close  confinement 
and  the  simple  process  of  starvation,  were  com- 
pelled to  find  the  prisoner  guilty.*  And  so 
within  two  days  after  Fitzwilliam's  arrival  in  the 
country  this  unfortunate  chief  was  indicted,  ar- 
raigned, convicted,  and  executed  at  his  own 
door.  The  deputy  forthwith  divided  his  country 
amongst  some  English  officers,  of  whom  the  prin- 
cipal were  Marshal  Sir  Henry  Bagnal  and  one 
Captain  Hensflower,  And  the  Irish,"  says  Mo- 
ryson,  "  spared  not  to  say  that  these  mov  were 

*  Moryson.  This  writer  does  not  give  these  facts  on 
his  own  authority,  wliich  niij^ht  have  been  construed  as 
bringing  the  English  tribunals  into  contenij)t,  but  in 
such  cases  always  prefixes  tiie  words  "The  Irish  say." 
He  does  not  contradict  the  statements,  which  besides  are 
incontrovertible  on  the  authority  of  other  historians 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  (/nEILL. 


85 


all  the  contrivers  of  his  death,  and  that  every 
one  was  paid  something  for  his  share."*  Those 
English  officers  did  not  indeed  at  that  time  enter 
upon  the  enjoyment  of  tlieir  Monaghan  estates: 
for  Mac  Mahon's  rival  Brien,  Lord  of  Dartry,  a 
more  active  and  resolute  character,  was  electbd 
by  his  sept  the  Mac  Mahon  and  chieftain  of  Mo- 
naghan ;  and  held  his  country  against  tlie  stranger 
for  a  time. 

Space  would  fsiil  us  to  recount  all  the  villanies 
which  both  English  and  Irish  historians  tell  of 
this  greedy  Deputy  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam ; 
how  he  made  strict  search,,  througli  such  parts  of 
the  North  as  he  dared  to  enter,  for  Spanish  trea- 
sure, left  there,  it  was  said,  by  the  shipwrecked 
Armada ;  and  how,  finding  no  gold,  he  took 
means  to  seize  upon  two  chiefs,  Mac  Toole  and 
O'Doherty,  and  imprisoned  them  in  Dublin  castle, 
till  O'Doherty  bribed  him,  with  many  herds  of 
cows,  to  release  him.  On  the  whole,  his  transac- 
tions  with  the  North  had  little  tendency  to  make 
Ulster  in  love  with  English  laws  or  governors  ; 
"  rather,  indeed,  a  loathing  of  English  gOA  ern- 
aient,"  says  Moryson,  "  began  to  grow  in  the 
northern  lords,  and  they  shunned  as  much  as  tliey 
could  to  admit  any  sheriffs  or  any  English  among 
ihem."  So  when  the  Deputy  informed  the  Mac 
Guire  of  Fermanagh  that  his  country,  being  now 
"  shire  ground,"  must  pre[)are  to  admit  a  sheriff, 
to  execute  the  writs  of  the  Queen  of  England,  to 
empanel  juries  and  do  otlier  sheriff-duty  there. 
Your  sheriff,"  said  Mac  Guire,  "shall  be  wel- 


*  Moryson. 


86 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O  NEILL. 


come,  hut  let  me  know  his  erick,  (how  much  his 
life  is  worth, )  that  if  mj  people  should  cut  off  his 
head,  I  may  levy  it  upon  the  country." 

O'Neill,  from  his  house  in  Dungannon,  calmly 
regarded  all  these  things  ;  but  his  heart  swelled 
secretly  with  hope  and  joy  :  for  he  knew  that  the 
time  was  not  far  off,  when  the  banners  of  Tyr- 
owen  should  wave  in  the  van  of  the  banded  sej)ts 
of  Ulster,  and  the  haughty  baltle  shout  of  Lamb 
dearg  affright  those  traitor  deputies  in  Dublin 
castle. 


3.IFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEIiiL. 


67 


CHAPTER  YII. 

0*NEILL  AT   COURT  BAGNAL's  SISTER— ESCAPE 

OF  o'dONNELL  TRINITY  COLLEGE. 

1590—1594. 

Hugh  na  Gavej^och,  son  to  Shane  O'Neill  hy 
O'Donnell's  wife,  appears  now  for  a  moment  upon 
the  stage.  He  bore  a  deadly  hatred  against  Hugh 
of  Dungannon  as  an  usurper  of  the  name  and  ho- 
nours of  O'Neill ;  and  this  year  we  find  him  de- 
nouncing his  chieftain  to  the  Deputy  and  council, 
as  a  traitor,  informing  them  that  certain  noble 
Spaniards  from  the  fleet  of  Medina  Sidonia,  had 
been  entertained  at  Dungannon,  had  received 
presents  from  O'Neill,  and  also  letters  for  the 
King  of  Spain,  soliciting  assistance-  against  the 
Queen  of  England,  and  promising  support  ;  all 
which  he,  Hugh  of  the  Fetters,  would  prove, 
either  upon  the  body  of  the  accused  by  way  of 
combat,  or  by  evidence  on  oath,  as  to  the  Deputy 
should  seem  meet.  Fitzvvilliam  prohibited  the 
combat,  but  set  a  day  for  tlie  j)roduction  of  the 
evidence,  and  prepared  with  much  dignity  to 
hohl  solemn  in(|uest  upon  so  important  a  crimi- 


88 


I.IFE  OF  HUGH  O^NEILL. 


nal.*  But  before  that  daj  arrived,  O'Neill 
had  the  prosecutor  arrested  as  a  foul  conspirator 
against  his  lawful  chieftain,  had  him  tried  in 
a  most  summary  manner  and  condemned  to  be 
strangled,  a  sentence  which  was  forthwith  exe- 
cuted,  though  not  without  difficulty  ;  for  no  man 
in  all  Tyr-owen  would  be  the  executioner  of  one 
who  bore  the  honoured  name  of  O'Neill ;  and 
Hugh  himself,  it  was  said,  had  to  end  the  diffi- 
culty, and  his  prisoner's  life  together,  with  his 
own  hand.  It  would  seem  that  the  Prince  of 
Ulster  was  not  a  man  to  be  given  in  charge  t^* 
the  juries  of  an  English  Deputy. 

But  to  dissipate  these  clouds  of  suspicion  and 
even  direct  accusation  which  began  to  blacken 
his  name  in  the  court  of  England,  O'Neill  pro- 
ceeded to  London,  in  his  Saxon  character  of  earl ; 
and  having  left  Ireland  without  leave  asked  of 
the  Deputy,  (which  it  seems  was  uncustomary  for 
Irish  peers,)  he  was  on  his  arrival  placed  under  a 
kind  of  nominal  arrest,  as  matter  of  etiquette  : 
but  soon  we  find  him  high  in  favour  as  usual, 
mingling  with  the  court  "  at  tlie  Honour  of 
Greenwich,"  says  Camden,  "as  noblemen  use 
to  do,"  deliberating  weighty  affairs  of  state  with 
the  chancellor,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  and  en- 
tering warmly,  even  eagerly,  into  all  Elizabeth's 
views  for  the  civilizing  of  Ireland.  As  for  the 
territory  of  Tyr-owen,  he  would  have  it  formed 
into  "  11  shire  or  two — with  gaols  for  holding  of 
sessions  ;"f  and  for  the  name  of  O'Neill,  if  tlia<- 

O' Sullivan.     This  author  says,  Fitzwilliam  sum- 
moned O'Neill  to  Stradhally. 
•j"  Moryson. 


ILIFE  OF  IlLGH  o'nEII-L.  89 

displeased  so  fair  a  princess,  he  would  never  beai 
it  more. 

"  My  name,  dear  saint,  is  hateful  to  myself. 
Because  it  is  an  enemy  to  thee." 

He  protested  that  he  had  assumed  that  name, 
only  to  prevent  some  other  of  the  tribe  from 
usurping  it — and  would  surelj  renounce  it ;  "yet 
beseeching  that  he  might  not  be  urged  to  pro- 
mise that  ^ipon  oathr*  Amongst  other  articles 
gravely  agreed  upon  by  O'Neill,  as  the  basis  of  a 
final  settlement,  were,  that  he  should  not  foster 
with  any  neighbouring  chiefs ;  should  give  no 
aid  to  the  Scots,  and  receive  none  from  them, — 
should  not  harbour  monks  or  friars,  nor  have  in- 
telligence with  foreigners — nor  levy  black  rent—^ 
nor  suffer  his  people  to  wear  glibbes,  or  other 
Irish  apparel — and  finally  that  he  would  live  at 
peace  with  old  Tirlough  Lynnogh  and  other 
neighbouring  chiefs  ;  yet  all  this  "  upon  condi- 
tion that  Tirlough  and  the  other  chiefs  of  Ulster 
should  in  like  manner  engage  themselves  to  keep 
peace  with  him  ;  lest  when  he  was  quiet  and 
thought  no  harm^  he  should  be  exposed  to  the 
injuries  of  those  turbulent  persons."f  Surely 
one  of  the  fViirest  conditions,  which  he  seems  to 
have  been  well  aware  could  not  be  complied  with. 

His  old  ally,  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  and  the  Lord 
Chancellor  Ilatton  having  become  sureties  for 
O'Neill's  performance  of  all  he  had  undertaken, 
he  returned  to  Ireland,  and  was  to  enter  into  for- 
mal indentunis  with  the  (le[)uty,  binding  himscdf 


•  Moryson. 


f  Camden.    Queen  YXu., 


90 


LIFE  OF  HUCtH  o'nEILL. 


to  all  these  articles,  by  the  first  of  August  in  the 
same  year  ;  but  as  he  steadily  required  that  all 
the  other  chiefs  of  Ulster  should  come  in  and 
take  on  thera  similar  engagements,  the  indentures 
were  never  executed ;  the  first  of  August  came 
and  passed  ; — and  the  settlement  of  Ulster  was 
indefinitely  deferred  "  by  many  subtile  shifts, 
whereof,"  says  Moryson,  "  he  had  plenty." 

He  returned  to  prosecute  his  grand  project  of 
northern  confederation,  and  to  perfect  the  organi- 
sation of  the  Kinel-Eoghain.  But  matters  were 
still  unripe  for  an  effectual  effort  against  English 
power;  one  main  limb  of  the  enterprize  was 
wanting  while  the  present  feeble  chief  of  Tyr- 
connell  ruled  that  potent  sept,  and  young  Beal- 
Dearg*  O'Donnell  still  pined  in  the  dungeons  of 
Fitzwilliam.  For  the  present  he  could  only  bide 
time  ;  and  for  another  year  there  is  nothing 
to  record,  save  an  incident  of  a  rather  domestic 
and  tender  nature. 

The  marshal,  Sir  Henry  Bagnal,  and  his  Eng- 
lish garrison  in  the  castle  and  abbey  of  Newry, 
were  a  secret  thorn  in  the  side  of  O'Neill.  Thiey 
lay  upon  one  of  the  main  passes  to  the  North, 
frowning  over  Iveagh  and  the  O'Hanlon's  coun- 
try ;  and  he  had  deeply  vowed  that  one  day  the 
ancient  monastery,  IJe  viridi  ligno,  should  be 
swept  clear  of  this  foreign  soldiery.  But  in  that 
castle  of  Newry  the  Saxon  Marshal  had  a  fair 
tjister,  a  woman  of  rarest  oeaury,  whom  O'Neill 
Liiought  it  sin  to  leave  for  a  spouse  to  some  churl 


J\ed  mouin. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


91 


of  an  English  undertaker.* — Besides,  'twas  pity 
so  sweet  a  soul  should  sit  in  darkness  of  Protes- 
tant heresy  ; — rather  than  so,  he  would  undertake 
her  conversion  himself,  and  make  her  the  bride 
of  an  Irish  chieftain.  And,  indeed,,  we  next  hear 
of  him  as  a  love-suitor  (with  that  persuasive 
tongue  of  his)  at  the  feet  of  the  English  beauty. 
How  or  where  he  met,  and  wooed  and  won  thisf 
maiden,  or  by  what  legal  or  ecclesiastical  process 
he  divorced  his  lawful  wife  to  make  way  for  her, 
we  have,  unhappily,  no  record :  but  that  he  sped 
in  his  wooing,  and  also  in  his  divorce  suit,  is 
plain  ;  for  the  lady  fled  from  her  brother's  castle, 
and  was  borne  in  triumph  to  Dungannon,  where 
she  speedily  became  reconciled  to  the  church,  and 
was  duly  wedded  to  the  Prince  of  Ulster.  Sir 
Henry  conceived  his  house  dishonoured  by  this 
alliance,  because  O'Neill,  as  he  said,  had  another 
wife  alive, — putting  little  faith,  as  it  seemed,  in 
the  divorce.  He  had  been  sufficiently  unfriendly 
to  the  chief  ])efore ;  but  from  that  hour  there 
grew  up  the  deadliest  enmity  between  them  ; 
which  afterwards  bore  fruit,  as  we  shall  see. 

But  the  time  had  arrived  when  Red  Hugh 
O'Donnell  was  to  see  his  native  mountains  once 
more.    A  year  before  this,  he  had  escaped  from 

*  O'Sullivan  is  the  only  writer  who  tells  of  this  lady*8 
beauty.  "  Tironus  Hafinalis  sororem  foerninarn  forma 
conspicuam,  speciei  pulcliritudinc  captus,  rajjuerat,  nia- 
trimoiiio  sibi  conjiirixcrat,  c-t  a  Protcstante  cotiverti  ad 
fideni  Catholicarn  feccrat." — 4tn.  132.  There  is  a  novel 
founded  on  this  story,  and  entitkid  "  The  Adventurers," 
lively  with  incident,  but  wanting  tho  colouring  and  cha- 
racter of  the  period 


92 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


Dublin  Castle  with  a  noble  Lagenian  youth  of 
the  O'Cavanaghs.  They  fled  southwards,  anil 
made  for  that  "long  extensive  mountain,  the 
boundary  between  the  Gathelians  of  the  Lage- 
nian province  and  the  English  of  Dublin,"*  tra- 
versed the  hills  all  night,  and  before  morning  had 
passed  the  "  red  mountain,"  hotly  pursued.  They 
took  refuge  with  Felim  O'Toole,  who  was  un- 
able to  protect  them,  and  gave  them  up  to  the 
English.  For  that  time  they  had  to  return  to 
their  dungeon,  where  O'Donnell  was  loaded  with 
*'  heavy  iron  fetters,"  and  languished  there  for 
another  whole  year,  "  until  the  feast  of  Christ- 
mas, 1592,  when  it  seemed."  says  the  chronicle, 
"  to  the  Son  of  the  Virgin  time  for  him  to  escape." 
Again  he  found  an  opportunity  to  fly,  accom- 
panied by  Henry  and  Art,  two  sons  of  Shane 
O'Neill,  and  made  once  more  for  the  glens  of 
Wicklow.  The  mountains  were  covered  with 
snow  and  all  that  night  the  storm  beat  fiercely 
upon  them.  They  did  not  however  again  trust 
themselves  with  the  O'Tooles,  but  struggled  still 
southwards  to  reach  the  pass  of  Glenmalur, 
(Gleann  Maolughra,)  where  the  gallant  Fiach 
Mac  Hugh,  victor  of  Glendalough,  would  be 
sure  to  protect  them  against  all  the  forces  of  tne 
Pale.  Three  days  and  nights  they  wandered 
through  the  mountains,  feeding  upon  leaves  and 
grass,f  and  famishing  in  the  savage  v/inter  wea- 
ther :  and  at  last  O'Byrne's  people  found  two  of 
them  (for  poor  A  rt  had  perished)  stretched  under 

'  MS.  Translation  of  Life  of  O'Donnell,  p.  10. 
t  O'SulUvan. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


93 


the  slielter  of  a  cliff,  benumbed,  and  nearly  life- 
less. The  O'Byrne  brought  them  to  his  house, 
and  revived,  and  warmed,  and  clothed  them,  and 
instantly  sent  a  messenger  to  Hugh  O'Neill  (with 
whom  he  was  then  in  close  alliance)  with  the 
joyful  tidings  of  O'Donnell's  escape.  O'Neill 
heard  it  with  delight,  and  sent  a  faithful  retainer, 
Tirlough  Buidhe  O'Hagan,  who  w^as  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  country,  to  guide  the  young 
chief  into  Ulster.  After  a  few  days  of  rest  and 
refreshment,  O'Donnell  and  his  guide  set  forth, 
and  the  Irish  chronicler  minutely  details  that  peri- 
lous journey  ; — how  they  crossed  the  Lifiey  far 
to  the  westward  of  Fitzwilliam's  hated  towers, 
and  rode  cautiously  through  Fingal  and  Meath, 
avoiding  the  garrisons  of  the  Pale,  until  they 
arrived  at  the  Boyne,  a  short  distance  west  of 
Inver  Colpa,  (Drogheda,)  "  where  the  Danes  had 
built  a  noble  city," — how  they  sent  round  their 
horses  through  tlie  town,  and  themselves  passed 
over  in  a  fisherman's  boat ;  how  they  passed  by 
Mellifont,  a  great  monastery  which  belonged 
to  a  noted  young  Englishman  attaclied  to  Hugh 
O'Neill,"  and,  tlierefore,  met  no  interruption 
thei-e, — rode  right  through  Dundalk,  and  entered 
the  friendly  Irish  country  where  they  had  nothing 
more  to  fear.  One  night  they  rested  at  Feadh 
Mor  (the  Fews,)  where  O'Neill's  brother  had  a 
house,  and  the  next  day  crossed  tlie  Blackwater 
at  Moy,  and  so  to  Dungannon,  wlu3re  O'Neill 
received  them  right  joyfully.  And  here  "the 
two  Hughs'*  entered  into  a  strict  and  cordial 
friendshi[),  and  told  each  other  of  their  wrongs 
and  of  their  hojMis.    O'Neill  listened,  with  such 


^  LIFE   OF  HUGH  0*NFTLI.. 

feelings  as  one  can  imagine,  to  the  story  of  the 
youth's  base  kidnapping  and  cruel  imprisonment 
m  darkness  and  chains ;  and  the  impetuous 
Beal  Dearg  heard,  with  scornful  rage,  of  the 
English  deputy's  atrocity  towards  Mac  Mahon, 
and  attempts  to  bring  his  accursed  sheriffs  and 
juries  amongst  the  ancient  Irish  of  Ulster.  And 
they  deeply  swore  to  bury  for  ever  the  unhappy 
feuds  of  their  families,  and  to  stand  by  each 
other,  with  all  the  powers  of  the  North  against 
their  treacherous  and  relentless  foes.  The  chiefs 
parted,  and  O'Donnell,  with  an  escort  of  the  Tyr- 
owen  cavalry,  passed  into  Mac  Gwire's  country. 
The  chief  of  Fermanagh  received  him  with  ho- 
nour, eagerly  joined  in  the  confederacy,  and  gave 
him  "  a  black  polished  boat,"  in  which  the  prince 
and  his  attendants  rowed  through  Lough  Erne, 
*ind  glided  down  that  "  pleasant  salmon-breeding 
river"*  which  leads  to  Ballyshannon  and  the  an- 
cient seats  of  the  CLan-Conal. 

We  may  conceive  with  what  stormy  joy  the 
tribes  of  Tyrconnell  welcomed  their  prince  ;  with 
what  mingled  pity  and  wrath,  thanksgivings  and 
curses,  they  heard  of  his  chains,  and  wanderings, 
and  sufferings,  and  beheld  the  feet  that  used  to 
bound  so  lightly  on  the  hills,  svf  oUen  and  crippled 
by  that  cruel  frost,  by  the  crueller  fetters  of  the 
Saxon.  But  little  time  was  now  for  festal  rejoicing, 
or  the  unprofitable  luxury  of  cursing;  for  just  then 
Sir  Richard  Bingham,  the  English  leader  in 
Connaught,  relying  on  the  irresolute  nature  of 
tld  O'Donnell,  and  not  aware  of  Red  Hugh's  r©» 


•  MS.  Life  of  O'DonneU 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neILL. 


95 


turn,  liad  sent  two  hundred  men  bj  sea  to  Do- 
negal, where  they  took  by  surprise  the  Franciscan 
monastery,  drove  away  the  monks,  (makin.g  small 
account  of  their  historic  studies  and  learned  an- 
naUY'iLW^  garrisoned  the  buildings  for  the  queen. 
Issuing  out  from  thence,  the  soldiers  made  raids 
into  the  country  round  about,  spoiling  the  people, 
driving  away  their  sheep  and  oxen,  and  burning 
their  houses  on  the  march.  The  fiery  Hugh 
could  ill  endure  to  hear  of  these  outrages,  or 
brook  an  English  garrison  upon  the  soil  of  Tyr- 
connell.  He  collected  the  people  in  hot  haste, 
led  them  instantly  to  Donegal ;  and  commanded 
the  English  by  a  certain  day  and  hour,  to  betake 
themselves  with  all  speed  back  to  Connaught  and 
leave  behind  them  the  rich  spoils  they  had  taken  ; 
all  '.vhich  they  thought  it  prudent,  without  fur- 
ther parley,  to  do.  And  so  the  monks  of  St. 
Francis  returned  to  their  home  and  their  books, 
gave  thanks  to  God,  and  prayed,  as  well  they 
might,  for  Hugh  O'Donnell.* 

In  the  following  spring,  on  the  third  day  of 
May,  there  was  a  solemn  meeting  of  the  warriors, 
clergy,  and  bards  of  Tyrconnell,  at  the  rock  of 
Doune  in  Kilmacrenan,  "the  nursing-place  of 
Columkille."  And  here  the  father  of  Red  Hugh 
renounced  the  chieftaincy  of  the  sept,  and  his  im- 
petuous son,  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  was  duly 
inaugurated  by  the  Erenach  O'Firghil,  and  made 
the  O'Donnell,  with  the  ancient  ceremonies  of 
his  race.  And  surely  it  was  time  that  the  powers 

*  It  was  in  Donegal  Abbey  the  *•  Annals  of  tlie  Four 
Masters"  wore  c()tn])il(;(l. 
t  MS.  Life  of  0'j;uiinell 


96 


1.1FE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


of  Tjrconnell  should  be  wielded  by  a  resolute 
band. 

Upon  the  eastern  border  of  O'Donnell's  country, 
*  where  the  two  old  rivers  Finn  and  Mourne, 
which  the  Deluge  left  behind,  mingle  their  wa- 
ters,"* dwelt  Tirlough  Lynnogh  O'Neill,  in  the 
town  and  castle  of  Strabane,  holding  svch  poor 
state  as  the  Dungannon  chief  still  permitted  him. 
This  foolish  old  Tirlough  kept  certain  English 
troops  in  his  country  under  the  command  of  one 
Captain  Willis  ;  perilous  auxiliaries  for  an  Irish 
chief.  And  "  it  was  a-heart  break,"  says  the 
chronicler,  "  to  Hugh  O'Donnell,  that  the  Eng- 
lish of  Dublin  sliould  thus  obtain  a  knowledge  of 
the  country."  He  fiercely  attacked  Strabane, 
drove  back  Tirlough  and  his  Englishmen  as  far 
as  Glengiven  (Dungiven)  and  besieged  them  in 
O'Cahan's  castle  on  the  banks  of  Roa  river. 
O'Cahan  came  forth  to  treat  with  O'Donnell,  re- 
minded him  that  he  had  been  his  foster-son,  and 
that  the  fugitives  were  his  guests,  and  so  per- 
suaded the  young  chief  to  refrain  from  violating 
the  hospitality  of  a  friendly  roof.  For  that  time 
O'Donnell  retired  ;  but  he  never  rested,  nor  suf- 
fered Tirlough  to  rest,  while  those  detested  Eng- 
lish were  on  his  borders.  The  old  chief  was  soon 
obliged  to  banish  his  outlandish  allies,  and  accept 
the  powerful  friendship  of  O'Donnell  in  their 
place  ;  and  this  is  the  last  we  hear  of  Tirlough. 
He  died  the  next  year. 

Shortly  after,  we  find  this  Captain  Willis  on 


MS  Life  of  O'Donnell. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


97 


the  scene  again ;  Maguire,  it  seems,  had  made 
some  kind  of  compact  with  Fitzwilliam  that  no 
EngHsh  marauder,  in  name  of  a  sheriff,  should 
be  sent  into  Fermanagh;  and  in  consideration  of 
this  promise  had  given  the  corrupt  Deputy  a  herd 
of  three  hundred  cows.  Yet  in  the  year  ]  593, 
Willis  having  been  driven  out  of  Tyr-owen,  is 
found  in  Maguire's  country,  purporting  to  be  a 
sheriff  there,  and  "having  with  him  three  hun- 
dred of  the  very  rascals  and  scum  of  the  king- 
dom ;"*  and  all  living,  says  Moryson,  "  upon  the 
spoil  of  the  country,"  until  Fermanagh  could  en- 
dure the  banditti  no  longer.  Mac  Guire  and  his 
people  set  upon  Willis  who  had  fortified  himself, 
after  the  usual  manner  of  the  English,  in  a 
church,  reduced  him  to  extremity,  and  were  on 
the  point  of  destroying  both  sheriff  and  posse 
comitatus,  when  Hugh  O'Neill  interfered  to  save 
their  lives,  on  condition  of  their  instantly  quitting 
the  country.t 

But  Mac  Guire  did  not  lay  down  his  arms. 
The  English  of  Connaught  were  growing  too 
strong  to  be  endured  as  near  neighbours  ;  and 
the  forces  of  Fermanagh  being  in  the  field,  he  led 
them  southwards  by  the  eastern  shore  of  Lough 
Allen,  and  the  base  of  the  Iron  mountain,  through 
tlie  soutli  of  BrefFni  O'Ruarc,  through  Corran, 
and  over  the  bridge  of  Boyle  abbey  to  the  plains 
of  Magh-ai.  Bingham  was  tlien  in  camp  upon  a 
hill  near  Tulsk  ;  and  a  body  of  his  cavalry  meet- 
ing with  a  party  of  Mac  Guire's  while  patrolling 
at  night,  fhid  to  the  main  body  and  were  pursued 


•  Lee'a  Memorial. 


t  Moryson. 


98 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  0*N£ILL« 


by  the  Irish  with  slaughter  into  their  trenches, 
William  Clifford,  who  commanded  the  party, 
was  slain  ;*  and  the  primate  Mac  Gauran,f  who 
resided  with  Mac  Guire,  and  had  accompanied 
him  on  the  expedition,  was  among  the  slain  on 
the  side  of  the  Irish. 

The  Lord  Deputy  immediately  dispatched  a 
**  hosting"  into  Mac  Guire's  territory.  A  large 
army  of  the  Meath  and  Leinster  forces  under 
command  of  Marshal  Bagnall  and  Hugh  O'Neill, 
marched  into  Fermanagh  from  the  east,  and 
Bingham's  troops  invaded  it  from  Connaught, 
Mac  Guire  boldly  met  them  at  the  "  ford  of  the 
Lamb's  corner,"  where  the  river  issues  from 
Lough  Erne  and  contested  that  passage  stoutly  ; 
but  O'Neill  having  crossed  at  the  head  of  the 
cava'ry  and  charged  the  Irish  in  flank,  Mac  Guire 
was  obliged  to  retreat.  In  this  charge  the  zea- 
lous O'Neill  was  wounded  in  the  thigh  ;  and  as 
the  Irish  chronicler  relates,  "he  thought  this 
well  for  him,  because  he  was  not  suspected  by 
the  English."  The  army  proceeded  through 
Mac  Guire's  country  wasting  and  plundering  in 
their  march,  and  then  departed,  leaving  a  body 
of  troops  with  Conor  lice  Mac  Guire  whom 
the  English  set  up  as  a  rival  to  the  lawful  chief- 
tain. This  was  the  first  Queen's  Mac  Guire  : 
and  it  was  confidently  hoped  that  civil  war 
would  soon  desolate  the  lands  of  Fermanagh  and 

*  M.S.  Life  of  O'Donnell.  O'SuUivan  calls  the  leader 
who  fell  Guelford :  and  Camden  tells  us  that  the  Eng- 
lish gained  a  considerable  victory  here. 

t  One  Gauranus,  a  priest,  whom  the  pope  (forsooth) 
hfid  made  primate  of  all  Ireland." — Moryson. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


99 


leave  it  ready  for  English  sheriffs  in  a  year  or 
two. 

Young  O'Donnell  could  ill  endure  this  Saxon 
settlement  on  Lough  Erne.  To  keep  the  English 
out  of  Ulster  was  the  grand  passion  of  his  lifes 
and  his  fiery  spirit  chafed  at  the  strange  policy 
of  O'Neill,  which  we  can  well  believe  he  did  not 
understand.  Yet  hitherto  he  had  acted  by  the 
advice  of  his  cautious  confederate,  and  refrained 
from  joining  Mac  Guire  ;  but  when  Fitzwilliam, 
in  the  beginning  of  1594,  led  another  army  to 
the  North,  took  Enniskillen  by  surprise,  and  left 
an  English  garrison  there,  Hugh  Roe  could  look 
on  in  silence  no  longer.  He  led  the  Clan-Conal 
into  Fermanagh  and  laid  close  siege  to  Enniskil- 
len, which  he  cut  off  from  all  communication 
with  the  country.  The  northern  Irish  were  not 
skilled  in  the  attack  or  defence  of  fortified  places, 
and  this  siege  seems  to  have  been  carried  on  en- 
tirely by  way  of  blockade.  All  summer  O'Don- 
nell lay  before  it,  and  his  troops  scoured  the  coun- 
try to  the  southward,  burning  and  wasting  the 
lands  in  possession  of  the  English  :  until  at  last 
by  the  month  of  August  the  garrison  had  con- 
sumed all  their  provisions,  and  it  was  hoped  must 
soon  surrender  from  mere  famine. 

While  PI  ugh  Roe  was  here,  a  messenger  came 
to  him  from  the  North,  announcing  that  a  force 
of  Scottish  auxiliaries  whom  he  expected  had  ar- 
rived in  the  Foyle,  under  command  of  Donald 
Gorm  Mac  Donald,  and  Mac  Leod  of  Ara.  He 
hastened  to  Derry  to  meet  them,  found  there  an 
efficient  and  v/cli-armed  body  of  troops,  and  in 


100 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


corporated  them  (as  the  Irish  historian  asserts*) 
with  the  Irish  forces :  but  this  is  improbable,  as 
in  dress,  arms,  and  manner  of  fighting  the  Scot?* 
differed  considerably  from  the  Irish.  Their  prin- 
cipal weapon  was  the  huge  two-handled  broad 
sword,  and  they  wore  the  tartan  of  their  clans :  while 
the  Irish  infantry  bore  sharp  battle-axes  and  short 
swords,  and  were  enveloped  in  long  woollen  cloaks 
which  in  action  they  often  wound  round  the  left 
arm.f  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  organi- 
zation of  these  Scots,  or  their  place  in  battle, 
they  were  a  welcome  aid  to  their  brother  Celts  of 
Ireland,  and  did  good  service  in  theso  wars 
against  the  enemy. 

While  lied  Hugh  was  absent  from  the  camp, 
the  Clan-Conal  and  Mac  Gwire,  lying  before  En- 
niskillen,  received  news  of  a  large  army  coming 
upon  them  from  Connaught,  commanded  by  Sir 
Edward  Herbert  and  Sir  Henry  Duke,  to  raise 
the  siege  and  victual  the  garrison.  Mac  Gwire 
prepared  to  meet  them,  and  looked  anxiously 
northward  for  O'Donnell  and  the  Scots.  And 
now  the  English  had  passed  the  mountains  of 
Leitrim,  and  he  could  see  the  smoke  of  their 
devastating  progress  as  they  burned  the  country 
in  their  march  ;  when  most  opportunely  a  body 
of  three  hundred  galloglasses  and  one  hundred 
cavalry,  of  the  well-trained  troops  of  Tyr- 
owen,  with  Cormac  O'Neill  the  chief's  brother 
at  their  head,  arrived  in  the  Irish  camp.  With 

•  MS.  Life  of  O'Donnell. 

f  Spenser.  See  also  for  dress  of  Irish  and  Scotch, 
MS  Life  of  O'DonneU.  and  Ware. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


101 


this  reinforcement,  and  the  troops  of  Ferma- 
nagh and  Tyr-connell,  Mac  Gwire  and  Cormac 
waited  for  the  enemy  at  a  ford  near  Enniakillea 
and  encountered  them  in  a  pitched  battle.  From 
morning  till  night  the  English  pressed  on  gal- 
lantly, and  were  as  fiercely  met,  but  at  last  their 
whole  army  was  utterly  routed  and  pursued  over 
the  river  with  such  slaughter  and  havoc  that  the 
baggage  was  left  behind.  All  the  stores  of  bread 
intended  to  relieve  Enniskillen  were  lost  in  the 
river  ;  and  that  battle-ground  is  called  the  Ford 
of  Biscuits  unto  this  day.*  Enniskillen  was  im- 
mediately surrendered  to  Mac  Gwire.  The  Eng- 
lish fled  to  Sligo  through  the  mountains  of 
Breffni  O'Ruarc,  and  Fermanagh  was  once  more 
cleared  of  foreign  soldiery.  O'Donnell  was  re- 
turning rapidly  from  Derry,  when  messengers 
met  him  with  the  news  of  the  victory  :  "  and  he 
was  sorry,"  says  the  chronicle,  "  that  he  had  not 
been  in  that  battle  as  he  would  have  prevented 
the  escape  of  so  many  of  the  English." 

Deputy  Fitzwilliam  was  about  this  time  re- 
called to  England.  All  historiansj"  of  both  nations 
concur  in  representing  him  as  one  of  the  most 
flagitious,  greedy,  cruel,  and  corrupt  governor? 
that  an  P^iglisli  monarch  ever  sent  to  Irehxnd. 
To  the  nobles  and  people  of  the  Pale  he  was  as 
odious  as  to  the  Irish  enemy — for  "  he  never 
respected  any  man's  necessity,"  says  Lee,  "  in 

*  Beal-alha-na  riscoid.  See  IMS.  Life  of  ()])()nnell, 
and  O'Suilivaii.  The  latter  ealls  the  pluee  vaduin-panum 
bisdoctorum. 

t  See  Ciuudan,  Moryson,  Cox.  Leo,  O'SuUivan,  Mao 
Geoghei^ap 


192  LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 

comparison  of  his  own  commodity;"  and  then, 
'*  he  kept  so  miserable  a  Christmas,"  as  Dublin 
had  never  seen  before.*    But  his  viceroy  alt  j  is 
famous  for  the  founding  of  Dublin  Univei'sity. 
Perrot  had  some  years  before  proposed  to  convert 
St.  Patrick's  cathedral  into  a  college  ;  and  the  pro- 
ject was  bitterly  opposed  by  Archbishop  Loftus, 
who  had  other  uses  for  the  revenues  of  his  two 
cathedrals  ;  and  "  was  particularly  interested  in 
the  livings  of  this  church,"  says  Leland,  "  by  leases 
and  estates  which  he  had  procured  for  himself 
and  his  kinsmen" — being,  in  fact  one  of  those 
rapacious  bishops  censured  by  Dr.  Mant,  who 
alienated  the  lands  of  the  church,  and  reduced 
many  bishoprics  "  as  low  as  sacrilege  could  make 
them."f    Nothing,  therefore,  was  done  for  that 
time :  but,  after  Loftus  had  procured  the  recal, 
disgrace,    and  death  of  Perrot  (for  he  never 
could  forgive  that  sacrilegious  attempt  in  a  lay- 
man) he  determined  to  signalize  his  own  zeal  for 
education,  and  heartily  co-operated  with  the 
queen  in  her  renewed  plan  of  a  college.  And 
instead  of  despoiling  his  churches  for  the  pur- 
pose, he  pointed  out,  as  a  convenient  site,  that 
i^uppressed"  monastery  of  All  Hallows,  then  in 
the  hands  of  tlu.'  Dublin  corporation.    He  con- 
vened a  meeting,  prevailed  on  the  mayor  and 
aldermen  to  give  the  ground  and  buildings  for  so 
meritorious  an  object ;  and  to  collect  funds,  cir- 
culars were  addressed  to  the  principal  gentry  of 


•  Lee's  Memorial, 

t  Mant.     History  of  the  Cliurch  of  Ireland,"  p.  446 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neILL. 


103 


the  Pale,  entreating  assistance  by  way  of  pri- 
vate contribution  :  but  Dr.  Mant  gives  the  reply 
of  one  person  to  that  application,  and  seems  to 
infer  from  it  that  the  proceeds  thus  obtained 
were  very  small : — "  He  had  applied  to  all  the 
gentlemen  of  the  barony  of  Louth,  whose  an- 
swer was,  that  they  were  poor,  and  not  able  to 
give  anything." 

There  were  forfeited  lands,  however,  in  the 
south ;  and  some  abbeys  which  had  lately  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  English  rapacity  ; — O'Dorney 
in  Kerry,  Cong  in  Mayo.  Besides  innumerable 
monasteries  in  Ulster,  long  since  "  suppressed," 
as  we  saw  ;  but  where  the  monks  still  contuma- 
ciously did  their  alms-deeds  ;  and  prayed  for  the 
souls  of  many  an  Irish  chieftain  who  had  endowed 
their  houses  to  that  end.  Some  of  these  a  gene- 
rous queen  could  bestow  (in  a  certain  anticipa- 
tory manner)  upon  her  new  Protestant  college. 
The  college,  indeed,  was  long  kept  out  of  its 
northern  property — "  was  frustrated,"  as  Dr. 
Leland  has  it,  "  of  the  benefit  of  its  grants  by 
the  wars  in  Ulster :"  but  being  a  true  undertak- 
ing college,  it  took  the  "  letters  patent"  in  the 
meantime,  and  was  content  to  wait,  like  other  un- 
dertakers, and  realize  the  queen's  bounty  by  de- 
grees, as  the  sword  of  her  generals  and  the  plots 
of  her  statesmen  should  extend  English  power  in 
Ireland. 

Thus  was  founded  and  endowed,  by  a  Protes- 
tant princess,  this  great  Protestant  university, 
for  strictly  Prot(;st{iiit  purposes — with  Catiiolic 
funds,  and  upon  the  hinds  of  a  Catholic  abbey. 


104 


i.TFF.  OP  HTioii  o'arnfi  Lh 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

O'XEILIi  IN  ARMS — CliONTIBRKT. 

A.  D.  1594—1595. 

It  had  become  too  plain  that  Hugh  O'Neill  xras 

not  likely  to  answer  those  politic  ends  for'which 
Elizabeth's  government  had  been  so  long  pro- 
tecting and  cherishing,  and,  as  they  believed, 
educating  him.  His  ingratitude,  as  English  his- 
torians term  it,  had  become  too  apparent. 
"  Though  lifted  up,"  says  Spenser,  "  by  her  ma- 
jesty out  of  the  dust  to  that  he  hath  now  wrought 
himself  unto,  now  he  playeth  like  the  frozen 
enake."  And  nothing  better,  Spenser  fears, 
would  be  the  result  if  Shane  O'Neill's  sons  could 
be  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  this  Hugh,  and  set 
up  as  rivals  to  his  power — for  "  if  they  could 
overthrow  him,  who  should  afterwards  overthrow 
them  F"  Wherefore  he  infers  "  it  is  most  dan- 
gerous to  attempt  any  such  plot."*  However 
the  queen's  councillors,  ponderinfj  these  things 
with  care,  and  believing  that  O'Neill  was  the 
main  hope  of  the  northern  confederacy,  advised 
the  Deputy,  as  the  best  that  could  be  done  in  the 
mean  time,  to  offer  O'Donnell  "  pardon,"  pro- 
vided, says  Moryson,  "  he  would  sever  himself 


•  Spenser's  View  d.  180. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


105 


^roro  O'Neill ;"  a  proposal  which,  it  hardly  needs 
t-o  be  said,  took  no  effect.  Imagine  the  haughty 
Beal-Dearg  receiving  that  offer  of  an  English 
pardon  ! 

Private  orders  had  been  given  to  Sir  William 
Russell,  the  new  Deputy,  to  make  a  prisoner  of 
O'Neill  if  ever  he  should  have  him  in  his  power  ; 
of  which  the  chief  had  immediate  information 
through  a  friend.  It  is  credibly  made  known 
unto  him,"  says  Lee,  "  that  upon  what  security 
soever  he  should  come  in,  your  majesty's  pleasure 
is  to  have  him  detained."  Yet,  in  contempt  of 
this  base  plot,  O'Neill  appeared  in  Dublin  imme- 
diately cn  Russell's  landing,  where  he  found  him- 
self formally  accused  before  the  council,  by  his 
mortal  enemy,  Bagnal,  of  various  articles  of  trea- 
son— of  confederating  with  the  Northern  chiefs, 
of  being  The  O'Neill,  of  harbouring  priests,  and 
finally,  of  seducing  the  accuser's  sister  and  car- 
rying her  off  to  Tyr-owen.  It  was  debated  in 
council  whether  the  chieftain  should  be  detained 
a  prisoner  to  answer  these  charges,  notwithstand- 
ing a  "  protection"  he  had  obtained  :  but  the  ma- 
jority, either  through  scruples  about  violating 
the  protection,  "  or  from  some  secret  affec- 
tion for  Tyrone,"*  declared  that  he  ought  in  jus- 
tice and  honour  to  be  dismissed.  Ormond,  how- 
ever, informed  O'Neill  privately  that  Russell 
would  ol)ey  his  orders  from  England  and  arrest 
him  unless  he  speedily  escaped  from  Dublin. 
And  no  man  better  knew  the  treacherous  devices 
of  English  policy  than  this  Earl  of  Ormond, 


Camdeu.    Queen  EHzabeth. 


10b 


LIFE   OP  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


whose  indignant  letter,  in  reply  to  the  Lord 
Treasurer  Burleigh  (when  similar  orders  had 
been  sent  to  himself  ),  is  recorded  by  Carte 
"  My  Lord,  I  will  never  use  treachery  to  any 
man,  for  it  would  both  touch  her  highness's  ho* 
nour  and  my  own  credit  too  much  ;  and  whoso- 
ever gave  the  queen  advice  thus  to  write,  is  fitter 
for  such  base  service  than  I  am.  Saving  my 
duty  to  her  majesty,  I  would  I  might  have  re* 
venge  by  my  sword  of  any  man  that  thus  per- 
suadeth  the  queen  to  write  to  me."  By  advice 
of  his  friend  Ormond,  O'Neill  fled  from  Dublin, 
made  his  way,  with  some  risk,  through  the  Pale, 
for  Russell  had  been  drawing  a  cordon  around 
him,  escaped  to  the  North,  and  prepared  to  stand 
on  his  defence. 

It  was  about  this  time  ( 1 594)  that  Captain  Tho- 
mas Lee  drew  up  the  celebrated  memorm/ addressed 
to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  intended  to  inform  her 
how  her  servants  in  Ireland  executed  the  trust 
committed  to  them.  Lee  had  commanded  some 
troops  himself  in  various  posts  on  the  frontiers  of 
Ulster  during  Fitzwilliam's  administration  ;  and 
he  indignantly  describes  the  many  villanies  and 
cruelties  of  that  officer  and  his  creatures  ;  but  the 
most  remarkable  feature  in  the  production  is  the 
strong  affection  which  the  writer  manifests  for 
O'Neill.  O'Neill  is  his  hero :  in  assertion  of 
O'Neill's  loyalty  and  truth,  honest  Lee  is  ready 
(perhaps  rashly)  to  lay  down  his  life.  "  If  hb 
were  so  bad  as  they  would  fain  enforce  (as  many 
Bs  know  him  and  the  strenfrth  of  his  country  will 
witness  thus  much  with  me,)  he  might  very  easily 
out  off*  many  of  your  majesty's  forces  which  are 


LIFE   OF  HUGH   o'nEILI..  107 

laid  in  garrisons,  in  small  troops,  in  divers  parts 
bordering  upon  his  country ;  yea,  and  over-run 
all  your  English  Pale  to  the  utter  ruin  thereof  ; 
yea,  and  camp,  as  long  as  should  please  him  un- 
der the  walls  of  Dublin,  for  any  strength  your 
majesty  yet  hath  in  that  kingdom  to  remove  him. 

"  These  things  being  considered,  and  how  un- 
willing he  is  (upon  my  knowledge)  to  be  otherwise 
towards  your  majesty  than  he  ought,  let  him  (if  it 
so  please  your  highness)  be  somewhat  hearkened 
unto,  and  recovered  if  it  may  be,  to  come  in  unto 
your  majesty  to  impart  his  own  griefs,  which  no 
doubt  he  will  do,  if  he  will  like  his  security. 
And  then,  I  am  persuaded,  he  will  simply  ac- 
knowledge to  your  majesty  how  far  he  hath 
offended  you ;  and  besides,  notwithstanding  his 
protection,  he  will,  if  it  so  stand  with  your  ma- 
jesty's pleasure,  offer  himself  to  the  marshal  (who 
hath  been  the  chiefest  instrument  against  him) 
to  prove  with  his  sword  that  he  hath  most 
wrongfully  accused  him.  And  because  it  is  no 
conquest  for  him  to  overthrow  a  man  ever  held 
in  the  world  to  be  of  most  cowardly  behaviour, 
he  will,  in  defence  of  his  innocency,  allow  his 
adversary  to  come  armed,  against  him  naked,  to 
encourage  him  the  rather  to  accept  of  his  chal- 
lenge. I  am  bold  to  say  thus  much  for  the  earl, 
because  I  know  his  valour,  and  am  persuaded  he 
will  perform  it."* 

This  cartel  took  no  effect :  but  it  was  plain 
that  O'Neill  would  soon  liavc  an  opportunity  of 
meeting  his  enemy,  if  not  in  listed  field,  yet  in 


•  Lec'8  Memorial. 


108 


Ijltt:  OF  HUGH  OI^EllaL. 


open  melee  of  battle :  for  news  arrived  in  the 
North,  that  large  reinforcements  were  on  their 
way  to  the  Deputy  from  England,  consisting  of 
veteran  troops  who  had  fought  in  Bretagne  and 
Flanders,  under  Sir  John  Norrsys,  the  most  ex- 
perienced general  in  Elizabeth's  service ;  and 
that  garrisons  were  to  be  forced  upon  Ballyshan- 
non  and  Belleek,  commanding  the  passes  into 
Tyrconnell,  between  Lough  Erne  and  the  sea. 
The  strong  fort  of  Portmore  also,  which  O'Neill 
had  permitted  to  be  built  on  the  southern  bank 
of  the  Blackwater,  was  to  be  strengthened  and 
well  manned  ;  thus  forming,  with  Newry  and 
Greencastle,  a  chain  of  forts  across  the  island, 
and  a  basis  for  future  operations  against  the  Irish 
country  to  the  I-orth. 

And  now  it  was  very  clear  that,  let  King  Phi- 
lip send  his  promised  help,  or  not  send  it,  open 
and  vigorous  resistance  must  be  made  to  the  far- 
ther progress  of  foreign  power,  or  Ulster  would 
soon  be  an  English  jH'Ovince.  The  northern  con- 
federacy too,  that  great  labour  of  O'Neill's  lite, 
was  now  strong  and  firmly  united.  Even  Mac 
Gennis  and  O'Hanlon,  two  chiefs  Avho  had  long 
been  under  the  influence  of  Bagnal,  were  in  tlie 
ranks  of  their  countrymen,  and  O'Neill  gave  his 
daughter  to  the  chief  tain  of  Iveagh,  his  sister  to 
him  of  Orier.  In  Leinster,  the  O' Byrnes,  the 
O'Cavanaghs,  and  Waiter  Fitzgerald  (surnamed 
JRiagh)  had  entered  into  close  alliance  with 
O'Neill,  and  were  already  wasting  the  borders  of 
the  Pale :  and  O'Donnell  and  Mac  Gwire  wera 
in  arms,  impatient  for  the  chief  of  Tyr-owen 


lilFE  OF  HUGH  O  NEILL.  lOS 

to  lift  his  banner  and  take  his  rightful  post  iu  the 
van  ot  embattled  Ulster. 

At  last  the  time  had  come  ;  and  Dunganiion, 
with  stern  joy,  beheld  unfurled  the  royal  standard 
of  O'Neill,  displaying,  as  it  floated  proudly  on  the 
breeze,  that  terrible  Red  Right  Hand  upon  its 
snow  white  folds  ;  waving  defiance  to  the  Saxon 
queen,  dawning  like  a  new  Aurora  upon  the 
awakened  children  of  Heremon. 

With  a  strong  body  of  horse  and  foot  O'Neill 
suddenly  appeared  upon  the  Black  water,  stormed 
Portmore,  and  drove  away  its  garrison,  "as  care- 
fully," says  an  historian,  "  as  he  would  have 
driven  poison  from  his  heart ;"  then  demolished 
the  fortress,  burned  down  the  bridge,  and  ad- 
vanced into  O'Reilly's  country,  everywhere 
drivino;  the  English  and  their  adherents  before 
him  to  the  South,  (but  without  wanton  blood- 
shed, slaying  no  man  save  in  battle  ;  for  cruelty 
is  no  where  charged  against  O'Neill ;  and  finally, 
with  Mac  Gwii-e  and  Mac  Mahon,  he  laid  close 
siege  to  Monaghan,  which  was  still  held  for  the 
Queen  of  P^n gland. 

O'Donnell,  on  his  side,  crossed  the  Saimer  at 
the  head  of  his  fierce  clan,  burst  into  Connanght, 
and  shutting  up  Bingham's  troops  in  their  strong 
places  at  Sligo,  Bally  mote,  Tulsk,  and  Boyle, 
traversed  the  country,  with  avenging  fire  and 
Bword,  putting  to  dealli  (;vcry  man  iclio  could 
speak  no  Irish'*  ravaging  tlieii-  lands,  and  send- 

*  SeeMao  Georrliorjnn.  Some  writers  say  "all  Protos- 
tants;"  ljut  as  all  the  Protestants  then  in  Co)iiiau'_;lit 
were  foreigners,  aud  all  the  foreigners  were  hostile  iu 


110 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILIj. 


iiig  the  spoil  to  Tyr-connell.  Then  he  crossed 
the  Shannon,  entered  the  Annally*s,  where  O'Fer- 
ghal  was  living  under  English  dominion,  and  de- 
vastated that  country  so  furiously  that  "  the  whole 
firmanent,"  says  the  chronicle,  "  was  one  bUck 
cloud  of  smoke."* 

Not  having  sufficient  force  to  meet  the  confe- 
derates in  the  field,  Russell  had  recourse,  for  the 
present,  to  negotiation  ;  and  while  O'Neill  lay 
be.lore  Monaghan  he  received  intelligence  that  a 
certain  Sir  Henry  Wallop,  who  was  styled 
"treasurer  at  war,"  accompanied  by  Sir  Richard 
Gardiner,  the  queen's  chief  justice,  had  arrived 
in  Dundalk,  as  commissioners,  to  confer  with  the 
Irish  chiefs.  They  summoned  O'Neill,  by  his 
Saxon  title  of  Earl  of  Tyr-owen,  and  the  otlier 
leaders,  according  to  their  rank,  to  attend  them 
at  Dundalk,  as  English  subjects,  and  state  their 
"grievances"  there.  But  O'Neill  haughtily  re- 
fused to  see  these  commissioners,  save  at  the  head 
of  his  army,  or  to  enter  any  walled  town  as  a 
liege  man  of  the  Queen  of  England  ;  "  For  be  it 
known  unto  thee,  O  Wallop,  that  the  Prince  of 
Ulster,  on  his  own  soil,  does  homage  to  no  foreign 
monarch  :  and  for  your  '  earls  of  Tyrone' — earl 
me  no  earls  ; — my  foot  is  on  my  native  heath, 
and  my  name  The  0'Neill''\  So  they  met  in  the 

raders,  it  is  invidious  and  unjust  to  designate  the  suf- 
ferers in  tliese  wars  by  their  sectarian  appellation. 
*  MS.  Life  of  O'Donnell. 

f  "  My  foot  is  on  my  native  heath,  and  my  name  is 
Mac  Gregor."'  The  writer  gladly  acknowledges  a  pla- 
giarism from  the  Ked  Gregarach :  and  further  admits 
that  the  above  may  not  have  been  the  very  worda  of 
O'Neill's  message ;  but  it  was  to  that  effV'ct. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


Ill 


cpen  plain,  in  presence  of  both  armies  ;  and  O'Neill 
demanded,  as  the  first  condition  of  a  peace,  that 
no  garrisons  or  sheritFs  should  for  the  future  bo 
sent  into  any  part,  of  Ulster,  save  to  Newry  and 
Carrickfergus  ; — that  no  attempt  at  religious  per- 
secution, or,  as  the  English  called  it,  "  reforma- 
tion," should  be  made  in  the  North  ;  and  finally, 
that  Marshal  Bagnal  should  he  restrained  from 
encroaching  upon  the  Irish  territory,  or  the  juris- 
diction of  its  chiefs,  and  also  be  compelled  to  pay 
him,  O'Neill,  one  thousand  pounds  of  silver,  as  a 
marriage  portion  with  the  lady  whom  he  had 
raised  to  the  digity  of  an  O'Neill's  bride.  O'Don- 
nell  made  the  same  demands,  as  to  garrisons  and 
sheritfs,  and  freedom  of  religion  ;  and  further 
complained  of  his  treacherous  abduction  and 
severe  imprisonment,  and  of  a  certain  "  Queen's 
O'Donnell"  who  presumed  to  claim  his  chief- 
taincy by  "  English  tenure."  Their  terms,  in 
short,  were,  that  all  pretence  of  English  inter- 
ference with  the  North  should  forthwith  cease.* 
The  queen's  commissioners  pretended  to  con- 
sider some  of  these  conditions  reasonable  :  others 
they  "  referred"  to  her  majesty  ;  but  when  they 
came  to  pi-opose  certain  terms  to  the  confederates, 
%s  a  kind  of  temporary  arrangement,  until  the 
.queen's  pleasure  should  be  known, — as  that  they 
should  lay  down  their  arms,  beg  forgiveness  for 
their  rebellion,"  discover  their  correspondence 
with  foreign  states,  and  the  like  ;  the  chiefs  re- 
jected their  proposals  with  scorn  :  in  Moryson's 
phraseology,  "  the  rebels  grew  insolent and  the 


•  Moryson. 


112 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


conference  was  hastily  broken  oif,  O'Neill  having 
agreed  only  to  a  short  truce.  The  English  de- 
puty and  his  lawyers,  seeing  they  could  do  no 
better,  on  the  3rd  of  September  in  the  same  year 
(1595)  solemnly  empanelled  2,  jury  to  try  O'Neill 
and  his  allies,  for  what  they  termed  "  high  trea- 
son." The  chiefs  of  the  North,  in  their  absence, 
were,  with  the  utmost  gravity,  given  in  charge  to 
this  tribunal,  which  speedily  found  them  all 
guilty:  and  O'Neill,  O'Donnell,  O'Ruarc,  Mac 
Gwire,  and  Mac  Mahon  were  forthwith  pro- 
claimed "  traitors." 

O'Neill  well  knew  that,  notwithstanding  the 
overtures  of  peace,  Norreys  and  Russell  were 
actively  engaged  in  preparing  for  war.  Bagnal, 
about  the  beginning  of  J une,  had  marched  with 
a  strong  force  from  Newry  into  Mac  Mahon's 
country,  relieved  Monaghan,  and  compelled  the 
Irish  to  raise  the  siege,  and,  shortly  after,  the 
deputy  and  General  Norreys  made  good  their 
march  from  Dundalk  to  Armagh  after  a  severe 
skirmish  with  some  Irish  troops  at  the  Moyry 
pass.*  On  the  approach  of  these  forces,  O'Neill 
burned  down  Dungannon  and  the  neighbouring 
villages,  and  retired  into  the  woods,  hoping  by 
the  show  of  terror  and  hasty  reti-eat  to  draw  the 
enemy  further  into  the  difiicult  country,  and  de- 
stroy them  at  his  leisure.   But  Russell  contented 

*  Near  Mount-Norris,  county  Armagh.  Norreys  after- 
wards built  a  fort,  to  coinuuind  this  pass,  and  called  it 
by  his  own  name*.  This  district  was  at  that  time  much 
encumbered  by  woods  aivl  bo.:xs,  but  it  was  the  only  prac 
ticable  passage  from  Dundalk  northward,  except  round 
the  coast  at  Cariingford 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  0'NEI1.L. 


113 


himself  with  stationing  a  garrison  at  Armagh, 
and  returned  to  Dublin,  leaving  the  NortheiTi 
forces  under  the  command  of  Norrevs. 

The  castle  of  Monaghan,  which  had  been 
taken  by  Con  O'Neill,  was  now  once  more  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  and  once  more  was  besieged 
by  the  Irish  troops.  Norreys,  with  his  whole 
force,  was  in  full  march  to  relieve  it ;  and  CNeill, 
v/ho  had  hitherto  avoided  pitched  battles,  and 
contented  himself  with  harassing  the  enemy  by 
continual  skirmishes,  in  their  march  through  the 
woods  and  bogs,  now  resolved  to  meet  this  re- 
doubted general  fairly  in  the  open  field.  He 
chose  his  ground  at  Clontibret,*  about  five  miles 
from  Monaghan,  where  a  small  stream  rung 
northward  through  a  valley  enclosed  by  low  hills. 
On  the  left  bank  of  this  stream  the  Irish,  in  bat- 
tle array,  awaited  the  approach  of  Norreys.  We 
liave  no  account  of  the  numbers  on  each  side, 
but  when  the  English  general  came  up  he  thought 
himself  strong  enough  to  force  a  passage.  Twice 
the  Englisli  infantry  tried  to  make  good  their 
way  over  tlie  river  ;  and  twice  were  beaten  back, 
their  gallant  leader^  (;ac,li  time,  charging  at  their 
head,  and  being  tlie  last  to  retii-e.f  Tlie  general 
and  his  brot'aer,  Sir  Thomas,  wen^,  both  wounded 
in  tliese  conflicts  ;  and  tlie  Irish  counted  the  vic- 
tory won,  wlicn  a  cliosen  body  of  English  horse, 

*  Clunin-tihurnld ,  "the  lawn  of  tlic  spriii.ir." 

t  KcuMi  Ijoiiilianliirii  Ijis  :i  ( 'atholicis  coiifiitati  sunt, 
rechiiiiuiUc  N'oriise,  <]ui  uliiiiius  oiiiniinu  piii^nri  cxcedfv- 
bat." — W Sullivan.  Tiie  Irish  lii>t()riaiis  always  (h)  jus- 
iv'St  to  the  valour,  j^tioil  faith,  and  ^jenerosity  of  this 
treucral. 


114 


1.IFE    OF   IlUCiH  0*NE1X,L. 


led  on  by  Segrave,  a  Meathian  officer,  of  gigantic 
bone  and  height,  spurred  fiercely  across  the  river, 
and  cliarged  the  cavalry  of  Tyr-owen,  commanded 
by  their  prince  in  person.  Segrave  singled  out 
O'Neill,  and  the  two  leaders  laid  lance  in  rest  for 
deadly  combat,  while  the  troops  on  each  side 
lowered  their  weapons  and  held  their  breath, 
awaiting  the  shock  in  silence.  The  warriors 
met,  and  the  lance  of  each  was  splintered  on  the 
other's  corslet :  but  Segrave  again  dashed  his 
horse  against  the  chief,  flung  his  giant  frame  upon 
his  enemy,  and  endeavoured  to  unhorse  him  by 
the  mere  weight  of  his  gauntletted  hand.  O'Neill 
grasped  him  in  his  arms,  and  the  combatants 
rolled  together,  in  that  fatal  embrace,  to  the 
ground : — 

*'  Now,  gallant  Saxon  !  hold  thine  own  : — 
No  maiden's  arms  are  roand  thee  thrown." 

There  was  one  moment's  deadly  wrestle,  and  a 
death-groan  :  the  shortened  sword  of  O'Neill  was 
buried  in  the  Englishman's  groin  beneath  his 
mail.  Then  from  the  Irish  ranks  arose  such  a 
wild  shout  of  triumph  as  those  hills  had  never 
echoed  before  : — the  still  thunder-cloud  burst 
into  a  tempest : — those  equestrian  statues  became 
as  winged  demons  :  and  with  their  battle-cry  of. 
Lamh-dearg-aboo,  and  their  long  lances  poised, 
in  Eastern  fashion,  above  their  heads,  down  swept 
the  chivalry  of  Tyr-owen  upon  the  astonished 
ranks  of  the  Saxon.  The  banner  of  St.  George 
wavered  and  went  down  before  that  furious 
charge.  The  English  tuined  their  bridle-reins, 
and  fled  headlong  over  the  stream,  leaving  the 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


115 


field  covered  with  their  dead,  and,  worse  than  all, 
leaving  with  the  Irish  that  proud  red-cross  ban- 
ner, the  first  of  its  disgraces  in  those  Ulster 
wars.*  Norreys  hastily  retreated  southwards^ 
and  the  castle  of  Monaghan  was  yielded  to  the 
Irish. 

Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  was  by  this  time  master 
of  all  Connaught,  except  a  few  forts  :  but  George 
Bingham,  who  commanded  for  the  queen  in  the 
castle  of  Sligo,  knowing  that  the  Mac  Swynes 
were  in  O'Donnell's  army,  and  that  the  coasts  of 
Tyr-connell  must  be  lying  open  to  any  sudden 
descent,  and  having  heard  of  the  riches  of  Rath- 
muUen  priory,  bethought  himself  of  an  expedi- 
tion worthy  of  the  pirate  Danes  from  whom  he 
derived  his  race.  He  fitted  out  two  vessels,  filled 
them  with  armed  men,  and  leaving  Sligo  to  be 
kept  in  his  absence  by  Ulick  Burke,  sailed  round 
the  northern  coast,  entered  Lough  Swilly,  plun- 
dered and  destroyed  the  village  of  Rathmullan 
and  the  cloisters  of  the  Carmelites,  robbing  the 
monks  of  their  plate,  their  vestments,  and  sacred 
relics  ; — then  on  his  way  back  to  Sligo  he  landed 
on  Tory  Island,  "  a  place  blessed,"  says  a  chro- 
nicler, "  by  the  holy  Columba,"  illustrious  then 
with  its  seven  churches  and  the  glebe  of  the 
saint :  and  the  English  burned  and  ruined  both 
houses  and  churches,  plundered  everything,  ac- 
cording to  their  wont,  carried  off  the  flocks  and 

•  '*  Circum  Scdf^reium  octodcciiTi  equites  sj)lcndidi 
regii  ftuccumbunt,  et  signuni  ciii)itur." — ij' Sullivan.  For 
tiie  mode  of  charging  used  by  the  Irish  cavalry,  with 
their  lances  poised  over  the  right  shoulder,  see  Spenser's 
View. 


lib 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O  KEi  LL. 


herds,  and  left  no  four-footed  beast  on  the  \Yhole 
island.  Tory  never  recovered  from  that  hideous 
wreck.  It  is  now  a  bare  and  dismal  rock,  lashed 
by  the  howling  Atlantic,  and  inhabited  by  a  few 
wretched  fishermen  ;  but  still,  by  the  ruins  of  a 
round  tower,  by  its  two  stone  crosses,  and  the 
mouldering  walls  of  its  many  churches,  attests 
the  piety  of  the  holy  men  who,  in  days  of  old, 
made  a  sanctuary  of  that  lonely  isle. 

The  English  pirate  returned  with  his  booty  to 
Sligo  ;  but  the  division  of  the  spoil  caused  a  jea- 
lousy in  the  garrison  between  the  English  and 
Irish  ;  which  ended  in  Ulick  Burke  and  his  ad- 
herents falling  upon  and  exterminating  the  Sax- 
ons and  tlieir  leader,  and  then  delivering  up  the 
place  to  O'Donnell.  The  castle  of  Ballymote 
was  about  the  same  time  taken  by  Red  Hugh 
from  Sir  Richard  Bingham  and  given  to  its  right- 
ful owners,  the  Mac  Doncughs  ;  so  that,  on  the 
whole,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1595,  the  Irisb 
power  predominated  both  in  Ulster  and  Con- 
naught. 


LITE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILIi. 


117 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

NEGOTIATIONS — TYEEELl's  PASS — DEOM- 
EliUICH. 

A.  D.  1595—1597. 

During  the  following  winter  the  two  parties  re* 
mained  inactive  :  and  what  we  find  chiefly  inter- 
esting, is  the  warm  attachment  which  General 
Norrejs  conceived  for  O'Neill,  the  man  whom  he 
had  it  in  command  to  reduce  by  fire  and  sword. 
He  convinced  himself  that  the  chief  had  been 
heavily  wronged,  recommended  liim  to  the  favour- 
able consideration  of  his  government ;  and  would 
answer  it  with  his  life  that  kindness  and  justice 
would  make  this  formidable  chieftain  one  of  the 
queen's  best  subjects.  Tlie  strange  fascination 
of  O'Neill's  character  had  captivated  the  soldier- 
like and  generous  Norreys  ;  and  instead  of  vigo- 
rously prosecuting  the  war,  he  was  devising 
means  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  between 
the  revolted  "  earl"  and  his  oiTonded  sovereign. 
There  is  reason  to  fear  that  the  politic  Hugh  misled 
this  straightforward  soldier,  to  gain  time  for  his 
own  projects  and  his  negotiations  with  Spain  ; — 
a  supposition  wiiich  is  strengthened  by  liis  deal- 
ings with  the  queen^s  envoys  in  the  following 
year. 


118 


LIFE    OF   HUGH  o'NEILI* 


For  the  English  government,  finding  that  no 
progress  was  made  in  reducing  Ulster  bj  force 
of  arm?,  directed  a  commission  to  the  general 
along  with  Sir  George  Boiirchier,  styled  Master 
of  tlie  Ordnance,  and  Sir  Geoffrey  Fenton,  com- 
manding them  to  invite  the  Northern  chiefs  to  a 
conference,  and  propose  terms  of  peace.  The 
commissioners  wrote  to  O'Neill  requesting  a 
meeting  at  Dundalk  ;  and  though  well  aware  that 
it  was  to  his  own  successes  he  owed  these  friendly- 
dispositions  of  the  English  court,  which  would 
last  only  until  they  had  an  army  in  the  field  able 
to  cope  with  him  ;  yet,  having  objects  of  his  own 
to  serve  by  delay,  he  proceeded  to  Dundalk,  and 
declining,  as  usual,  to  enter  a  town,  he  held  con- 
ference with  the  English  negotiators  across  a 
small  river,  O'Neill  standing  on  the  north  bank 
and  the  commissioners  on  the  south.  Here  he 
assured  them  of  his  loyalty  and  his  desire  to  be 
treated  as  a  good  subject  of  the  queen,  provided 
only  that  the  laws,  customs,  and  religion  of  the 
Irish  country  sliould  remain  inviolate  ;  (a  pro- 
viso which  included  precisely  the  old  demands  of 
exemption  from  sheriffs,  bishops,  judges,  and 
"  reforn^ation  ;")  and  upon  those  terms  he  pro- 
tested that  her  majesty  would  have  no  more  de« 
voted  subject  than  he.*    As  for  holding  com- 

*  Moryson  would  have  us  believe  tliat  both  at  this 
conference  anrl  several  others  OWeill  made  the  most  ab- 
ject prot 'Stat  ions  of  rep  utance  and  submission,  craving 
pardon  on  his  knees  for  liis  "rebellion,  '  But  no  Irisli 
historian  says  anything  of  this;  and  it  is  hardly  proba- 
ble thf,t,  after  such  brilliant  victories  he  would  so  hum- 
ble himself  to  those  who  were  entreating  for  peace.  The 


LII-^   OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


119 


munications  with  Spain,  he  denied  it  altogether : 
but  he  much  feared  that  Hugh  O'Donnell  was  a 
disaffected  person,  and  engaged  in  some  treason- 
able correspondence ;  for  he  was  credibly  in- 
formed that  a  ship  had  arrived  from  Spain  in  ono 
of  the  ports  of  Tyr-connell.* 

The  commissioners  were  delighted  by  his  zeal 
and  candour,  communicated  with  their  govern- 
ment, and  were  immediately  vested  full 
power  to  conclude  a  final  peace  with  O'Neill  upon 
easy  terms ;  and  then  it  was  hoped  they  should 
soon  be  able,  by  his  help,  to  deal  with  that  pestilent 
O'Donnell.  So  they  wrote  again  to  O'Neill,  ap- 
pointing another  meeting  at  Dundalk,  on  the 
second  of  April,  Avhich  he  "  accepted,"  says  Mo- 
ryson,  "  with  shew  of  joy  ;"  but  when  the  second 
of  April  arrived,  and  the  commissioners  waited 
for  him  at  the  place  of  meeting,  he  did  not  con- 
descend to  appear.  Apparently  his  end  had  been 
answered,  and  he  was  not  yet  ready  to  assume  his 
new  character  of  a  loyal  subject.  Yet,  unwilling 
to  abandon  their  mission,  the  English  diploma- 
Abbe  Mac  Geoghegan  says,  ■w^ith  some  reason,  "  Le3 
Anglois  conviennent  qu'  on  desiroit  fort  la  paix  avec 
O'Nfcill :  rnais  ils  ajoutent  quo  ce  Prince  et  les  autres 
chefs  (les  Catlioliques  Irlandois  avoient  coutui>je  de  de- 
nnander  pardon  a  j^enoux  aux  coinniispaires  charges  de 
leur  j)roi)()?er  la  j)aix  :  ('eux  qui  sollicitent  la  paix  sont 
ordinal rcnient  plus  dans  le  cas  de  demander  jiardon  que 
les  autres." 

*  In  this  year,  as  wc  learn  from  the  MS.  Life  of 
O'Donnell,  Alonzo  Copis  crime  to  that  chief  from  Spain, 
bringing  arms  and  ammunition:  and  Ked  Hugh  sent 
him  home  with  his  ship  well  stored  with  "fat  bucks  and 
M  lute-fleeced  eheep." 


120 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


lists  once  more  plied  him  with  letters,  and  ap* 
pointed  yet  another  day,  the  l6th  of"  April;  when 
they  conjured  him  by  all  his  hopes  of  pardon,  and 
his  duty  to  her  most  sacred  majesty,  that  he 
should  not  fail  to  attend  them.  The  l6th  came, 
and  the  commissioners  looked  anxiously  north- 
ward from  Faughart  hill,  in  vain  ;  the  chief  did 
not  arrive  ;  but  the  next  day,  as  if  to  make  a  scorn- 
ful jest  of  their  mean  solicitation,*  sent  them  his 
reasons,  "justifying,"  says  Moryson,  "  his  relapse 
into  disloyalty  ;"  for  that  the  truce  had  not  been 
duly  kept  with  him  and  his  people  ;  causes  of 
offence  had  arisen  at  the  Blackwater  ;  and  more- 
over the  Marshal  had  not  restored  some  cattle 
which  had  been  driven  off  the  lands  of  a  certain 
O'NeilL  And  under  these  circumstances,  how 
could  a  prudent  chieftain  lay  down  his  arms,  or 
abandon  the  guardianship  of  his  faithful  clans- 
men ? 

Possibly  these  reasons  may  have  seemed  frivo- 
lous to  the  commissioners  ;  more  especially  as  it 
was  notorious  that  O'Neill  was  improving  the  in- 
tervals of  truce  in  arming  and  training  more 
troops,  in  strengthening  his  alliances,  and  stirring 
up  the  Irish  of  Leinster  to  invade  the  Pale  ;  for 
at  this  time  we  find  that  "  Fiach  Mac  Hugh," 
jays  Moryson,  "  breaking  his  protection,  entered 
into  acts  of  hostilitie  ;  and  he,  together  with  the 
O'Mores,  O'Connors,  O'Byrnes,  O'Tooles,  the 
Cavanaghs,  Butlers,  and  the  chiefe  names  of 
Con  naught,  animated  by  the  success  of  the  Ulster 

•  "  A  mean  solicitation  on  the  part  of  government  to 
Tyrone." — Leland. 


IiTFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILIi. 


121 


men,  combined  together,  and  demanded  to  have 
the  barbarous  titles  of  O  and  Mac,  together  imtli 
Imids  they  claimed,  to  De  restored  to  them,  in 
the  meanwhile  spoiling  all  the  conritry  on  all 
sides."    These  Leinster  Irish  were  led  princi- 
pally by  Owen  O'More   and   Fiach  O'Byrne. 
Their  inroads  were  fierce  and  bloody;  the  smoke 
of  their  burnings  darkened  the  air  of  Dublin;* 
and  there  needed  large  forces  to  guard  the  fron- 
tiers of  the  Pale,  and  sleepless  watch  and  ward 
upon  the  city  wall.  But  now  the  deputy  resolved 
to  m^ike  another  effort  against  the  mountain  septs 
of  Wicklow.    In  the  month  of  May  he  pene- 
trated with  a  strong  force  into  the  glens;  took 
the  fort  of  Ballinacor  by  surprise,  and  i3ut  its  in- 
mates to  the  sword,  including  the  gallant  chief  of 
the  O 'Byrnes,  who  had  so  long  held  those  fast- 
nesses against  the  utmost  efforts  of  English 
power.    He  left,  hoAvever,  two  sons,  Plielim  and 
Raymond,  who  received  some  troops  from  Hugh 
O'Neill  to  assist  them,  joined  with  the  O'Mores, 
recovered  the  glens  and  mountains  of  their  tribe, 
and  still  kept  tlie  field  against  the  stranger.  At 
this  time,  also,  Hugh  O'Donnell  was  pressing  the 
Eijgiish  hard  in  Connaught,  detaching  the  chiefs 
from  foreign  alliances,  and  combining  them  in  the 
national  confederacy.  Mac  Dermot  of  Moy-luing 
he  compelled  to  make  submission  to  himself  as  an 
Uriaght  or  tributary  chief;  "as  with  those  of  his 
place  it  was  always  customary,  "f  And  over  Clan- 

*  "The  village  of  Crumlin  was  plundered  and 
burned  down,  within  two  miles  of  the  city." — Cox.. 

t  MS.  Life  of  O'Donnell.  Moryson  says  "  all  Con- 
Daught  was  'm  rebdlion." 


r22 


l.IFE   OF   HUGH  o'nEILL. 


rickarde  lie  reinstated  the  Mac  William,  who  had 
been  supphmted  by  Theobald  Burke,  siirnamed, 
"  of  the  Ships,"  supported  by  the  English,  and 
claiming  his  chieftaincy  by  English  tenure." 

Armagh  was  still  occupied  by  an  English  gar- 
rison :  a  strong  force  under  command  of  Stafford 
was  stationed  there  ;  and  General  Norreys,  with 
the  main  body  of  his  troops,  was  encamped  at 
Killoter  church.  On  the  expiration  of  the  truce, 
O'Neill  attacked  this  encampment  with  desperate 
fury  ;  and  drove  the  English  before  him  with 
heavy  loss  till  they  found  shelter  within  the  walls 
of  Armagh.*  Norreys  left  here  five  hundred 
men  to  reinforce  Stafford,  and  himself  retired  to 
Dundalk:  leaving  the  whole  country  northward 
in  possession  of  the  Irish.  O'Neill  now  resolved 
to  recover  the  city  of  Armagh.  He  cut  off  all 
communication  between  Norreys  and  the  town, 
sat  down  before  it,  and  began  a  regular  siege ; 
but  the  troops  of  Ulster  were  unused  to  a  war  of 
posts,  and  little  skilled  in  reducing  fortified 
places  by  mine,  blockade,  or  artillery.  Tliey  bet- 
ter loved  a  rushing  charge  in  the  open  field,  or 
the  guerilla  warfare  of  the  woods  and  mountains; 
and  soon  tired  of  sitting  idly  before  battlements 
of  stone.  O'Neill  tried  a  stratagem.  General 
Norreys  had  sent  a  quantity  of  provisions  to  re- 
lieve Armagh  under  a  convoy  of  three  companies 
of  foot  and  a  body  of  cavalry ;  and  the  Irish  had 
surprised  these  troops  by  night,  captured  the 
stores,  and  made  prisoners  of  all  the  convoy. 
O'Neill  caused  the  English  soldiers  to  be  stripped 

*  O'Sullivan. 
•4 


1.IFE   OF  HUGH  0*NEIL1- 


123 


of  their  uniform,  and  an  equal  number  of  his 
own  men  to  be  dressed  in  it,  whom  he  ordered 
to  appear  bv  day-break,  as  if  marching  to  relieve 
Armagh.  Then  having  stationed  an  ambuscade 
before  morning  in  the  walls  of  a  ruined  monas- 
tery lying  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  city,  he  sent 
another  body  of  troops  to  meet  the  red-coated 
galloglasses ;  so  that  when  day  dawned,  the 
defenders  of  Armagh  beheld  what  they  imagined 
to  be  a  strong  body  of  their  countrymen  in  full 
march  to  relieve  them  with  supplies  of  provisions  : 
then  they  saw  O'NeiU's  troops  rush  to  attack 
these  ;  and  a  furious  conflict  seemed  to  proceed  ; 
but  apparently  the  English  were  overmatched  : 
many  of  them  fell,  and  the  Irish  were  pressing 
forward,  pouring  in  their  shot,  and  brandishing 
their  battle-axes,  with  all  the  tumult  of  a  heady 
fight.  The  hungry  garrison  could  not  endure  this 
sight.  A  strong  sallying  party  issued  from  the 
city,  and  rushed  to  support  their  friends ;  but 
when  they  came  to  the  field  of  battle  all  the  com- 
batants on  both  sides  turned  their  weapons 
against  them  alone.  The  English  saw  the  snare 
that  had  been  laid  for  them,  and  made  for  the 
walls  again ;  but  now  Con  O'Neill  and  his  party 
issued  from  tlie  monastery  and  barred  their  re- 
treat. They  defended  themselves  galhintly,  but 
were  all  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  Irish  entered 
Armagh  in  triumph.  Stafford  and  tlie  remnant 
of  his  garrison  were  allowed  to  retire  to  Dundalk, 
and  O'Neill,  who  wanted  no  strong  places,  dis- 
mantled the  fortifications  and  then  ahandoned 
the  town.  Soon  after  this,  however,  in  O'Neill's 
absence,  some  English  troops  from  Newry  oi 


19^  LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 

Dundalk  made  their  way  to  Armagh — fortified  it 

again — and  held  it  till  after  the  battle  of  the 
leilow  Ford. 

In  May  1597,  Russell  was  recalled  from  Ire- 
land, and  Lord  De  Burgh  sent  over  as  deputy. 
JS^orreys  also  was  instantly  dismissed  from  his 
northern  command,  and  sent  to  orovern  the  Eno;- 
lish  fo]"ces  in  Munster  ;  where  he  shortly  aftei 
sickened  and  died,  broken-hearted,  it  was  said, 
at  being  superseded  by  De  Burgh,  who  was  his 
personal  enemy ;  and  also  by  the  ill  treatment  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected  by  Russell ;  for  this 
Deputy  was  jealous  of  the  general's  high  reputa- 
tioii,  and  of  the  ami)le  powers  which  had  been 
vested  in  him  ;  and  never  lost  an  opportunity  of 
thwarting  his  plans  and  crip{)ling  his  resources.* 

The  new  Lord  Deputy  was  a  man  of  determi- 
nation and  experience  in  war,  having  commanded 
in  the  Netherlands  against  Spain,  and  done  good 
service  there. 

The  greater  part  of  the  island  was  now  in 
the  power  of  the  Irish.  In  Ulster  especially 
the  English  had  not  a  foot  of  land  save  what 
was  enclosed  by  the  walls  of  seven  castles, 
Newry,  Carrickfergus,  Dundrum,  Carlingford, 
Greencastle,  Armagh,  and  Olderfleet,  (now 
called  Larne,)!  and  De  Burgh's  instructions 
were  to  prosecute  the  northern  war  vigorously, 
to  enter  upon  no  conferences  and  listen  to  no 
terms.    A  truce,  however,  of  one  month  was 

*  The  Abbe  Mac  Geoghegan  notes  (a?  a  ji'/lgrr.snt  of 
heaven)  tliat  poor  Norreys  died,  loaded  -with  disgrace,  in 
the  very  country  which  had  given  birtli  to  St.  Rumold, 
first  bishop  and  patron  of  Malines,  whose  relics  he  liad 
proffjied  in  the  Low  Countries. 

tMorysoa. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


12a 


Agreed  upon,  and  the  time  was  used  by  the  De* 
puty  in  collecting  his  forces  and  planning  opera- 
tions :  neither  was  that  interval  altogether  wasted 
by  O'Neill  ;  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

At  the  close  of  the  truce,  attended  by  the 
Earl  of  Kildare  and  Lord  Trimbleston,  the  De- 
puty marched  northwards  by  Newry  and  Ar- 
magh, while  Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  who  now  com- 
manded for  the  queen  in  Connaught,  was  ordered 
to  penetrate  into  Ulster  by  the  western  shores  of 
Lough  Erne.  A  thousand  men  of  the  Anglo- 
Irish  of  Meath  had  assembled  at  MuUingar,  and 
were  also  destined  for  the  North  under  command 
of  young  Barnewall,  a  son  of  Lord  Trimbleston  : 
and  to  prevent  the  junction  of  all  these  forces 
was  plainly  the  thing  most  desirable  for  O'Neill. 
Now  there  was  in  the  Irish  army  a  gentleman  of 
English  descent,  by  name  Richard  Tyrrell,  of 
Fertullagh,  in  the  district  of  Meath,  a  zealous 
Catholic,  and  one  of  O'Neill's  most  trusted  friends 
and  bravest  officers.  He  was  instantly  detached, 
at  the  head  of  four  hundred  chosen  men,  to 
watch  the  movements  of  the  JNIeathians  ;  a  ser- 
vice for  which  Tyrrell  was  well  fitted  by  his  ac- 
tivity and  knowledge  of  the  country.  Barnewall 
and  his  troo[)S  marched  from  Mullingar  ;  and 
when  he  heard  of  the  small  number  of  Tyrrell's 
band,  which  was  then  posted  in  his  neighbour- 
hood, he  resolved  to  attack  it  Avithout  delay  and 
swcei)  it  from  his  patli.  Tyrrell  retired  before 
him  till  he  an-ived  at  a  defile  winding  between 
t/iick  woods,  Ijcing  precisely  llic  spot  which  he 
had  ujaiKcd  (nit  for  the  destruction  of  his  enemy. 
Here  he  placed  a  part  of  his  band  in  ambush 


126  LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 

under  O'Connor,  his  lieutenant;  and  himself  re- 
treated still  further  to  draw  the  English  onward 
into  the  pass.  Tiicy  rushed  impetuously  forward, 
and  the  moment  they  had  all  passed  the  ambus- 
cade, O'Connor  sounded  a  charge  and  attacked 
them  fiercely  in  the  rear,  while  Tyrrell  on  the 
same  instant  wheeled  round  and  engaged  them 
in  front.  The  whole  Meathian  detachment  was 
hewn  to  pieces  ;  and  it  is  said  that  besides  Barne- 
wall,  who  was  reserved  as  a  prisoner  for  O'Neill, 
only  one  man  escaped  through  a  neighbouring 
bog,  to  carry  the  news  to  Mullingar.*  O'Connor 
so  fiercely  plied  his  sword  that  day,  that  his  hand 
swelled  within  the  guard  and  had  to  be  extricated 
in  the  evening  by  means  of  a  file.  The  place  of 
battle  received  the  name  of  Tyrrell's-pass,  and 
still  preserves  the  memory  of  that  slaughter. 

Tyrrell  and  O'Connor  lost  not  a  day  in  march- 
ing to  join  O'Neill :  for  by  this  time  Lord  De 
Burgh  was  as  far  north  as  Armagh  ;  and  they 
counted  upon  warm  work  at  the  Blackwater. 

But  before  the  two  main  bodies  met,  we  have 
to  tell  how  it  fared  with  Sir  Conyers  Clifford  and 
his  Connaught  levies.  He  set  forth  with  seven 
hundred  men,  and  was  to  make  his  way  north- 
ward by  Ballyshannon  and  join  the  Deputy  at 
Portmore.  But  on  that  side  the  passes  into  Ul- 
ster were  under  the  special  care  of  Red  Hugh 
O'Donnell :  and  before  Clifford  had  proceeded 
far  he  found  himself  in  front  of  a  body  of  two 
thousand  of  the  Clan-Conal  ("  two  thousand  des- 
perate rebels,"  •  as  the  English  historians  caD 


*  Mao  Gecwfhegau. 


LIFE    OF  HUCiH  o'NKILL. 


127 


them),  and  perceiving  that  he  was  overmatched 
he  thought  it  ])est  to  retire.  For  thirty  miles  he 
''etreated  through  the  mountains,  in  good  order 
and  with  but  little  loss,  and  made  good  his  way 
back  to  Connaught  in  the  lace  of  a  superior  ene- 
my.* For  that  time  he  escaped  the  sword  of 
Red  Hugh :  but,  in  a  certain  pass  amongst  those 
mountains  of  north  Connaught,  these  two  warriors 
were  to  meet  once  more,  and  there  to  do  and  suifer 
what  their  fate  decreed.  From  pursuing  Clitford, 
O'Donnell  hastened  back  to  join  O'Neill  where 
the  brunt  of  battle  was  to  be  borne. 

O'Neill  knew  that  Lord  De  Burgh  would  di- 
rect his  efforts  to  recover  the  fortress  of  Port- 
more,  and  therefore  had  entrenched  a  part  of  his 
army  in  a  pass  of  the  Avoods  near  the  southern 
bank  of  the  Blackwater,  and  right  in  the  path 
of  the  English  army,  where,  "  to  the  natural 
strength  of  the  place,"  says  Moryson,  "  wat? 
added  the  art  of  interlacing  the  low  boughs,  an\' 
casting  the  bodies  of  trees  across  the  way."  Do 
Burgh  instantly  attacked  and  forced  this  pass, 
drove  the  Irisli  northward  across  the  river,  took 
possession  of  Portmore  fort,  and  garrisoned  it. 
Their  prayers  and  thanksgivings  for  this  success 
were  interrupted  by  calling  to  arms  ;  and  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  river  they  saw  the  Irish  issuing, 
from  their  woods,  and  taking  up  a  position  be- 
tween Portmore  and  Benbu)b,t  as  if  bent  to  re- 
new the  battle.    The  Earl  of  Kildare  was  8eii{ 

"  Moryson. 

f  Bcinn- Boirb,  tlic-    "  Hill-brow." — Stuart's  Histor) 


.28 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


forward  to  attack  them ;  and  was  shortly  after 
supported  by  De  Burgh,  with  his  whole  army- 
They  pressed  forward,  and  after  some  severe 
ikirmishes,  had  advanced  a  mile  beyond  Ben- 
burb,  when  they  found  themselves  in  front  of  the 
chosen  troops  of  Tyr-owen   and  Tyr-connell, 
led  by  their  chieftains  in  person,  and  supported 
by  the  Antrim  Scots  under  James  Mac  Donnell 
of  the  Glynns;  and  it  was  now  plain  that  O'Neill 
had  purposely  decoyed  them  across  the  river  tha^" 
he  might  engage  them  according  to  his  wont,  on 
his  own  chosen  battle-ground.  The  Lord  Deputy, 
however,  attacked  them  gallantly,  and  was  mor- 
tally wounded  in  the  beginning  of  the  conflict, 
and  carried  off  the  field.    Kildare  took  the  com- 
mand, but  he  also  was  struck  down  from  hio 
horse,  and  his  two  foster-brothers,  in  rescuing 
him  from  the  press  of  battle  were  slain  by  his 
side.     The  English  were  routed  with  terrible 
slaughter:  great  numbers  were  drowned  or  cut 
to  pieces  in  their  flight ;  and  amongst  the  slain, 
besides  Lord  De  Burgh,  were  several  officers  of 
distinction,  Sir  Francis  Yaughan,  brotlier-in-law 
to  the  Lord  Deputy,  Thomas  Waller  and  Robert 
Turner.    Kildare  also  died  in  a  few  days  of  his 
wounds,  or,  as  English  historians  will  have  it,  of 
grief  for  the  death  of  his  foster-brethren.  That- 
battle-field  is  called  Drurafluich ;  it  lies  about 
two    miles  westward    from  Blackwater-town, 
(Portmore) ;    and  Battleford-bridge  marks  th*^ 
spot  where  the  English  reddened  the  river  iu 
their  flight.* 

*  The  authorities  for  this  battle  are  O'SuUivan.  Ma/* 


4>iFE  OF  HUGH  O^NKlLL. 


129 


The  Queen's  army  retreated  with  all  speed  to 
Newry,  and  so  to  tlie  Pale,  leaving  the  garrison 
they  had  stationed  in  Portmore  unsupported  in 
the  midst  of  a  hostile  country.  Captain  Williams, 
however,  who  commanded  there,  caused  the  de- 
fences to  be  speedily  made  up,  and  maintained 
himself  bravely  for  a  long  time  against  all  the 
efforts  of  CNeill's  troops. 

Geoghegan,  the  MS.  Life  of  O'Donnell,  Moryson,  and 
Camden.  There  is  more  than  usual  discrepancy  in  tne 
several  accounts,  but  all  agree  that  Vaughan,  Waller, 
and  Turner,  with  many  of  the  English  troops,  fell  on 
the  field ;  that  De  Burgh  and  Kildare  died  very  soon 
after,  having  been  wounded  in  the  battle ;  and  also  that 
the  English  army  retreated  without  attempting  to  pene- 
trate further  ;  though,  as  Moryson  tells  us,  it  was  the 
express  intention  of  De  Burgh  to  march  straight  to 
Dungannon,  a  bold  undertaking,  he  says,  "  which  no 
other  lord  deputy  had  yet  attempted."  But  the  same 
Moryson,  in  describing  the  battle,  ccolly  says,  the  Eng- 
lish "  prevailed  against  them."  Leland  tells  us  that  De 
Burgh  met  with  a  "  sudden  death"  on  his  way  to  Dun- 
gannon, and  that  Kildare  died  oT  "affliction," — hardly 
a  satisfactory  account  of  the  transaction.  On  the  whol,;, 
the  present  writer  prefers  to  rely  upon  the  uiiaiilruo'^j 
oestunony  of  the  Irish  chroniclers. 


LlFK  OF  HUGH  ONEfLL. 


CHAPTER  X. 

o'keILL  receives  the  queen's   gracious  PAH- 
DON  BATTI.E    OF  BEAL-AN-ATHA-BUIDHE. 

A.  D.  1597—1598. 

Shortly  after  Lord  De  Burgh's  death,  the  civil 
government  of  the  Pale  was  committed  to  Loftus, 
Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  Chief  Justice  Gar- 
diner. The  Earl  of  Ormond,  O'Neill's  ancient 
friend  and  ally,  was  made  Commander-in-chief 
ot  the  (lueen's  army,  with  tlie  title  of  Lord  Lien 
lenant.  Ormond  haci  mslruccions  to  cciiciuUe!  i 
peace,  if  possible,  with  O'Neill ;  ana  a  irute,  vh 
eight  weeks  was  agreed  upon  between  tuem  il 
the  mean  time.  O'Neill  and  Ormond  mei;  at 
Dundalk  to  arrange  the  terms  of  a  peace,  and 
the  chieftain  stated  the  conditions  on  which  he 
and  his  allies  would  consent  to  lay  down  their 
arms ; — First,  perfect  freedom  of  religion,  not 
only  in  Ulster,  but  throughout  the  island  ;  then, 
reparation  for  spoil  and  ravage  done  upon  the 
Irish  country  by  the  garrisons  of  Newry  and 
other  places ;  finally,  entire  and  undisturbed 
control  by  the  Irish  chiefs  over  their  own  territo- 
ries and  people.*  These  claims  were  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  England  ;  and  during  the  truce  O'XvTeill 


Moryson,  Mac  Geoghegan. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEII.1.. 


131 


uras  to  hold  no  communication  with  Spain,  to 
Buffer  no  outrage  by  his  soldiers  in  violation  of 
the  truce,  to  recall  his  troops  from  Leinster,  to 
give  safe  conduct  to  English  officers  in  going  to 
and  from  the  several  castles,  and  tu  permit  his 
people  to  supply  victuals  to  the  fort  of  Portmore. 
Ax\d  on  the  other  hand,  Ormond  engaged  that 
the  Northerns  should  be  alloAved  free  intercourse 
with  the  Pale,  and  that  none  of  O'Neill's  troops 
or  confederates  should  be  molested  by  the  Eng- 
lish without  his  consent.*  Moryson  asserts  that 
O'Neill  began  this  conference  by  making  the 
humblest  professions  of  penitence,  loyalty,  and 
submission  to  the  queen  ;  which  cannot  be  true, 
being  not  only  unsupported  by  other  authorities, 
but  altogether  at  variance  with  the  chieftain'? 
haughty  demands,  and  his  contemptuous  treat 
ment  of  the  queen  of  England  and  her  officers 
immediately  after.  At  the  end  of  the  eight 
weeks'  truce,  authority  arrived  from  the  queen, 
giving  Ormond  power  to  offer  her  "  gracious  par- 
don" to  O'Neill,  on  his  engaging  to  comply  with 
certain  articles  to  the  number  of  thirteen  ;  of 
which  the  principal  were  that  he  should  break  up 
the  Northern  confederacy,  disband  his  forces, 
and  send  all  foreigners  out  of  his  country  ;  that 
he  should  repair  the  Blackwater  fort  and  bridge  ; 
renounce  the  title  of  O'Neill,  and  all  j.urisdic- 
tion  belonging  to  that  chieftaincy  ;  admit  a  sheriff 
into  Tyr-owen  ;  pay  a  fine  ;  deliver  up  all  trai- 
tors (that  is  all  who  should  presume  to  profess 
*he  Catholic  religion,  or  bear  arms  against  the 


i32 


LIFE  OF  >  UGH  O'NEli,!.. 


English)  ;  that  he  should  discover  \iU  negotia- 
tions with  Spain  ;  surrencler  into  the  hands  of 
Ormond,  Shane  O'Neill's  two  sons  (whom  he  had 
kept  in  prison  for  many  years),  and  finally  give 
his  own  eldest  son  as  a  hostage  for  due  perfor- 
mance of  his  engao-ements.* 

These  were  insolent  terms  to  propose  to  a  vic- 
torious sovereign  prince  at  the  head  of  his  army  ; 
and  he  rejected  them  with  scorn.  He  could  not 
think,  he  said,  of  abandoning  his  allies,  nor  would 
he  send  strangers  out  of  his  country^  without  safe 
conduct,  nor  deliver  up  those  who  sought  refuge 
with  him  for  conscience  sake :  as  for  Shane 
O'Neill's  sons,  they  were  his  prisoners,  not  Eli- 
zabeth's ;  and  for  the  name  O'Neill,  he  would  not 
nsist  upon  the  authorities  of  the  Pale  addressing 
fllm  by  that  title  ;  they  might,  if  they  pleased, 
call  him  Earl  of  Tyr-owen  ;  but  in  Ulster  he 
would,  with  their  good  leave,  (or  without  it,) 
continue  chief  of  his  sept :  and  then  the  articles 
relating  to  English  sheriffs,  and  the  giving  his 
son  for  a  hostage,  were  wholly  inadmissible  :  ra- 
ther than  be  pardoned  upon  these  terms  he  would 
dispense  with  pardon  altogether. 

Notwithstanding  his  contumac}^,  the  gracious 
pardon  was  at  Ormond's  urgent  entreaty  duly 
made  out  and  sealed  with  the  grent  seal  ;  and 
the  Lord  Lieutenant  now  piessed  him  to  accept 
It  upon  any  terms ;  the  Irish  should  have  all 
Ulster,  north  from  Dundalk,f  without  hostages, 
without  t/  ibule,  without  sherilfs :  it  was  rai  in 
vain    the  truce  was  out,  and  O'Neill  was  yvti- 


*  Moryson. 


+  MS.  Lifa  of  O'DonneU. 


I.1FE   OF  HUGH   O  NEILL. 


133 


paring  to  besiege  Armagh  and  Fortniore.  Yet, 
as  a  last  resource,  this  notable  "gracious  pardon" 
was  sent,  with  its  great  seal,  after  him  to  tli » 
North  :  but  the  haughty  chieftain  manifested  a 
surprising  indifference  to  the  precious  document, 
and  continuing  still  his  disloyal  courses,"  says 
Moryson,  "  never  pleaded  the  same" — which  i( 
seems  it  was  needful  to  do — "  so  as  upon  his  above- 
mentioned  indictment  in  September,  1 795,  you  shall 
find  him  after  outlawed  in  the  year  1600/  Mo- 
ryson is  also  precise  as  to  the  date  of  the  pardon. 
It  passed  the  great  seal  upon  thel  1th  of  April,  1598 
Indeed  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  all 
these  negotiations  for  peace  and  for  pardon 
were  mere  diplomacy  on  the  part  of  O'Neill, 
wlio  was  well  acquainted  with  the  rapacious 
views  of  the  English  court,  and  only  wished  to 
prolong  the  truce  in  hopes  of  receiving  Spanish 
succours  he  expected,  that  he  might  carry  on  the 
war  with  greater  vigour.  In  the  month  of  April, 
1597,  a  ship  from  Spain  liad  arrived  in  Killybegs, 
"  on  the  west  side  of  the  glen  blessed  by  the  holy 
Colmiiba,"  as  an  Irish  chronicler  has  it;  awd 
O'JJoinicll  had  entertained  King  Philip's  envoys 
with  distinction  at  Donegal,  and  presented  them 
witii  hounds  and  horses.*  We  have  no  account 
of  tlie  arrangements  made  between  them  and  tlie 
northiirn  chiefs  ;  but  it  seems  unaccountable  that 
Philip  did  not,  about  this  time,  give  some  etricieiit 
support  to  O'Neill  and  O'Dounell,  who  wei"e  sr 
gallantly  defending  tlieir  country  and  i-eligion 
against  tlieir  and  liis  (h^adliest  enemy  ;  but  some 
Irish  historians  account  for  tliis  by  the  rumourt* 


MS.  life  of  O'Doimell. 


134  LIFE   OF   HUGH  O'NEILL. 

R'hich  it  was  the  policy  of  England  to  spread 
abroad  tlirougliont  the  Continent,  of  the  low  con- 
dition to  which  O'Neill  had  been  reduced,  (;are- 
fully  concealing  or  denying  the  victories  obtained 
by  him  and  his  allies,  and  representing  every 
truce  and  conference  as  an  abject  "  submission" 
to  the  queen.  An  agent,  they  say,*  was  em- 
ployed at  Brussells  to  publish  pretended  submis- 
sions, treaties,  and  pardons  ;  so  that  the  Spanish 
governor  of  Flanders  miglit  report  to  his  master 
that  the  power  of  tiie  Irish  Catholics  was  broken 
and  their  cause  wholly  lost.  And  notwithstand- 
ing the  frequent  intercourse  between  Spain  and 
Ireland,  it  seems  tliat  such  representations  must 
have  had  some  effect ;  lor  O'Neill,  during  his 
whole  contest  received  no  effectual  help  from 
Spain  ;  and  the  foolish  expedition  to  Kinsale,  as 
we  shall  see,  was  rather  an  injury  to  his  cause 
than  an  addition  of  strength. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year,  however,  he  seems 
to  have  thrown  aside  all  reliance  upon  foreign 
aid,  and  to  have  organized  his  countrymen  for  o 
resolute  stand,  with  all  the  powers  of  the  Irish 
aj^ainst  their  enemy.  And  it  is  worth  while  to 
know  the  proportions  in  which  the  various  tribes 
of  Ulster  contributed  to  their  national  army  : — Of 
the  O'Neills,  we  find  that  Neal  Bryan  Fertough, 
in  Upper  Claneboy,  furnished  eiglity  foot  and 
thirty  horse;  Shane  Mac  Bryan,  of  Lower  Clane- 
boy, sent  eighty  foot  and  fifty  horse  ;  Mac  Rory, 
of  Kilwarlin,  gave  sixty  foot-men  and  ten  horse- 
men ;  Shane  Mac  Bryan  Carogh,  from  the  Bann 


•  Peter  Lomljard  cite  J  by  Mac  Geogliegao. 


I.IFE   OF   HUGH  O'WEILL. 


135 


side,  fifty  foot  and  ten  horse  ;  Art  O'Neill,  three 
hundred  foot  and  sixty  horse ;  Henry  Oge 
O'Neill,  two  hundred  foot  and  forty  horse  ;  Tui 
lough  Mac  Henry  O'Neill,  of  the  Fews,  had 
three  hundred  foot  and  sixty  horse ;  Cormac 
Mac  Baron*  (Hugh's  brother)  three  hundred 
foot  and  sixty  horse  ;  O'Neill  himself,  of  his 
own  household  troops  had  seven  hundred  foot 
and  two  hundred  horse.  Then  White's  coun- 
try (Dufferin  in  the  district  of  Down)  sent 
twenty  foot-men ;  Mac  Artane  and  Sliaght 
O'Neill,  also  of  Down,  one  hundred  foot  and 
twenty  horse  ;  Mac  Gennis  of  Iveagh,  brought 
two  hundred  foot  and  forty  horse  :  Mac  Mur- 
tough,  from  the  Mein  water,  sent  forty  foot-men  ; 
O'Hagan,  of  Tullogh-Oge,  had  one  hundred  foot 
and  thirty  horse  ;  James  Mac  Donnell,  son  of  the 
yellow-haired  Sorley,  from  the  Route  and  the 
Seven  Glynns  of  Antrim,  led  four  hundred  foo 
and  one  hundred  horse;  Mac  Gwire  of  Ferma 
nagh,  six  hundred  foot  and  one  hundred  horse 
Mac  Muhon  and  Ebhir  Mac  Coolye  of  Farney 
(another  Mac  Mahon),  contributed  five  hundred 
foot  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  horse  ;  O'Reilly 
of  BrefTui  O'Reilly,  eight  hundred  f^ot  and  one 
hundred  horse  ;  and  O'Cahan  from  the  snores  oi 
Lough  Foyle  and  the  bonk.s  of  the  Bann  and  Roe 
\vA  on  live  hundred  Iuol  and  iv\o  hundred  horse. 
All  these  chieftains  were  trib'itarv  to  O'Neill.t 

*  Son  of  the  baron.  Irish  names  were  sometimes 
formed  from  the  En^^lish  titles  of  honour,  us  Mae  au 
Eitrias,  children  of  tlic  Earl  of  Clanrickarde. 

t  The  Mac  Gwires  and  O'ltcillys  had  formerly  been 
Uriaghts  of  O'Donnell. 


136 


LIFE  OF  HUGS  O  NttiLL. 


From  Tjr-connell,  Red  Hugh  himself  and  his 
biVtiier,  brought  three  hundred  and  fifty  foot,  and 
one  hundred  and  ten  horse  ;  O'Dogherty  of  Inis 
howen  led  three  hundred  foot  and  forty  horse  ; 
Mac  Swyne,  five  hundred  foot  and  thirty  horse  ; 
O'Boyle  one  hundred  foot  and  twenty  horse  ;  and 
O'GaUagher  of  Ballyshannon  two  hundred  foot 
and  forty  horse  *  Hugh  O'Neill  and  Red  O'Don- 
nell  led  these  two  great  divisions  ;  they  seem  to 
have  been  of  equal  rank  and  authority,  and  to 
have  acted  independently  of  each  other,  but  always 
in  harmony,  and  their  only  contest  was  which 
should  pierce  deepest  into  the  columns  of  the 
Saxon. 

In  the  month  of  July  O'Neill  sent  messengers 
toPhelimMac  Hugh,  then  chief  of  th.e  O'Byrnes, 
that  he  might  fall  upon  the  Pale,  as  they  were 
about  to  make  employment  in  the  North  for  the 
troops  of  Ormond ;  and  at  the  same  time,  he  de- 
tatched  fifteen  hundred  men  and  sent  them  to 
assist  his  ally,  O'More,  who  was  then  besieging 
PorteloisCjj"  a  fort  of  the  English  in  Leix.  Then 
he^  made  a  sudden  stoop  upon  the  castle  of  Port- 
more,  which,  says  Moryson,  "  was  a  great  eye- 
sore to  him,  lying  upon  the  cheefe  passage  into  his 
country,"  hoping  to  carry  it  by  assault. 

An  eye-sore  surely,  brave  O'Neill !  and  a 
heart-sorrow,  is  that  accursed  fortress  of  thy 
Blackwater,  bristling  with  Saxon  spears — frowu« 

*  Moryson  is  the  authority  for  tliese  iium'oers.  lie 
reckons  in  all  of  the  Ulster  troops  1,702  horsemen,  au\l 
7,220  foot-soldiers. 

t  Afterwards  cahed  Maryborough. 


LIFE   OF    Iir(in  y)'\KlLL. 


137 


ing  over  the  green  vales  of  T}  i--owen  ;  the  far- 
thest step  in  the  onward  march  of  English  power 
towards  the  ancient  territories  of  the  KineJ 
Eoghain.  And  bj  the  souls  of  Heber  and  Here- 
mon  it  shall  be  swept  from  the  banks  of  that  fair 
river — razed  and  abolished  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  if  there  be  right  arms  enough  in  all  Ulster 
to  carry  it  away  stone  by  stone. 

Once  and  again  he  assayed  to  take  it  by 
storm :  but  the  fort  was  powerfully  manned  and 
commanded  by  a  skilful  oflScer ;  and  without  ar- 
tillery or  the  science  of  attacking  fortified  places, 
no -progress  could  be  made.  The  Irish  assailef^. 
the  place  with  desperate  bravery,  and  tried  to 
force  their  way  by  escalade  :  in  vain  ; — they 
wave  shot  down  or  flung  headlong  from  the  mound 
and  ramparts.  The  siege  became  a  blockade  ; 
and  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  the  Irish  lay 
encamped  around,  and  suffered  nothing  alive  or 
dead  to  enter  or  to  leave  the  walls  ;  grimly  wait- 
ing till  lamine  and  hardship  should  do  their  work 
uf)on  the  garrison.  In  the  mean  time  O'Neill 
had  also  invested  Armagh,  and  formed  an  en- 
campment at  Mullagh-bane,  between  tliat  city  and 
Newry,  to  prevent  all  relief  coming  from  the 
South  ;  whilst  his  brother  Cormac,  with  fivf.  hun- 
dred men,  guarded  the  approaches  near  the  be" 
leaL'"ured  walls. 

Ormond  now  perceived  that  a  powerful  effort 
must  be  made  by  tl.'e  English  to  hold  their  ground 
in  the  North,  or  Ulster  might  it  once  be  aban- 
-ioned  to  the  Irish.  Strong  reinlbrc(Mnement3 
v/ere  sent  froiu  P'.iigland  ;  and  O'Neill's  spie.s 
Hon  brought  Idni  intelligence  of  huge  masses  oi 


(38 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


troops  moving  northward,  led  by  Marshal  Sir 
Henry  Bagnal,  and  composed  of  the  choicest  forces 
in  the  queen's  service.  Newry  was  their  place 
of  rendezvous ;  and  early  in  August,  Bagnal 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  the  largest  and  best 
appointed  army  of  veteran  Englishmen  that  had 
ever  fought  in  Ireland.  He  succeeded  in  reliev- 
ing Armagh,  and  dislodging  O'Neill  from  his 
encampment  at  Mullagh-bane  ;  where  the  chief 
himself  narrowly  escaped  being  taken  ;  and  then 
prepared  to  advance,  with  his  whole  army,  to  the 
Blackwater,  and  raise  the  siege  of  Portmore. 
Williams  and  his  men  were  by  this  time  nearly 
famished  with  hunger :  they  had  eaten  all  their 
jiorses,  and  had  come  to  feeding  on  the  herbs  and 
grass  that  grew  upon  the  walls  and  in  the  ditches 
of  the  fortress.*  And  every  morning  they  gazed 
anxiously  over  the  southern  hills  and  strained 
their  eyes  to  see  the  waving  of  a  red-cross  flag, 
or  the  glance  of  English  spears  in  the  rising  sun. 

O'Neill  hastily  summoned  O'Donnell  and  Mac 
William  to  his  aid,  and  determined  to  cross  the 
marshal's  path,  and  give  him  battle  before  he 
reached  the  Blackwater.  His  entire  force,  on 
the  day  of  battle,  including  the  Scots  and  the 
troops  of  Connaught  and  Tyr-connell,  consisted 
of  four  thousand  five  hundred  foot  and  six  hun- 
dred horse,  and  Bagnal's  army  amounted  to  an 
equal  number  of  infantry  and  five  hundred  vete- 
ran horsemen,!  sheathed  in  corslets  and  head- 
pieces;  together  wiih  some  field  artillery,  in 
which  O'Neill  was    holly  wanting.    And  small 


Morytxjn. 


t  O'Sullivan. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


139 


as  these  forces  appear,  they  were  the  two  largest 
armies,  Irish  against  English,  that  had  met  upon 
this  soil  since  Strongbow's  invasion.  In  Bag- 
nal's  ranks  (a  thing  most  unusual  at  that  period) 
we  find  but  one  Irishman,  Maelmorra  O'Reillj, 
surnamed  "the  Handsome,"  a  disloyal  traitor, 
who  fought  against  his  country  and  his  lawful 
chieftain,  and  was  not  ashamed  to  call  himself  the 
queenHs  O^Heilly. 

Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  had  snuffed  the  coming 
battle  from  afar,  and  on  the  9th  of  August  joined 
O'Neill  with  the  clans  of  Connaught  and  Tyr- 
connell.  They  drew  up  their  main  body  about  a 
mile  from  Portmore,  on  the  way  to  Armagh, 
where  the  plain  was  narrowed  to  a  pass,  enclosed 
on  one  side  by  a  thick  wood,  and  on  the  other 
by  a  bog.  To  arrive  at  that  plain  from  Armagh 
the  enemy  would  have  to  penetrate  through 
wooded  hills  divided  by  winding  and  marshy  hol- 
lows, in  which  flowed  a  sluggish  and  discoloured 
stream  from  the  bogs  ;  and  hence  the  pass  was 
called  Beal-an-atha-huidhe,  "  the  mouth  of  the 
yellow  ford."*  Fearfasa  O'Clery,  a  learned  poet 
of  O'Donnell's,  asked  the  name  of  that  place, 
and  when  he  heard  it,  remembered  (and  pro- 
claimed aloud  to  the  army)  that  St.  Bercan  had 
foretold  a  terrible  battle  to  be  fought  at  a  yellow 
ford,  and  a  glorious  victory  to  be  won  by  the  an- 
cient Irish  Besides,  are  they  not  heretics,  these 

English  ?  and  hath  not  Moran  the  son  of  Maoin 
said  that    Nought  prevails  in  battle  so  powerfully 

•  Or  it  may  nave  been  called  yellow  from  the  colour  of 
fhe  soil,  wliich  seems  tilled  with  uchre. 


40 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neILL 


es  the  Truth?"*  Even  so,  Moran,  son  of  Maoini 
And  for  thee  wisest  poet,  O'Cleiy  !  thou  hast  this 
day  served  thy  country  well:  for,  to  an  Irish  armyj 
auguries  of  good  were  more  needful  than  a  com- 
missariat ;  and  their  bards'  song«^  like  the  Do- 
rian flute  of  Greece,  breathed  a  passionate  valour 
that  no  blare  of  English  trumpets  could  ever 
kindle. 

Bagnal's  army  rested  that  night  in  Armagh ; 
and  the  Irish  bivouacked  in  the  woods,  each  war- 
rior covered  by  his  shaggy  cloak,  under  the  stars 
of  a  summer  night : — for  to  "  an  Irish  rebell,"  says 
Edmund  Spenser,  "  the  wood  is  his  house  against 
all  weathers,  and  his  mantle  is  his  couch  to  sleep 
in."  But  O'Neill,  we  may  well  believe  slept  not 
that  night  away ; — the  morrow  was  to  put  1*^ 
proof  what  valour  and  discipline  was  in  tha\ 
[risli  army  which  he  had  been  so  long  organiz- 
ing and  training  to  meet  this  very  hour.  Before 
{lim  lay  a  splendid  army  of  tried  English  troops, 
in  fall  marcli  for  his  ancient  seat  of  Dungannon, 
and  led  on  by  his  mortal  enemy.  And  O'Neill 
would  not  have  had  that  host  weakened  by  the 
desertion  of  a  single  man,  nor  commanded — 
no,  not  for  his  white  wand  of  chieftaincy — 
by  any  leader  but  this  his  dearest  foe.  Ahl 
never  had  he  desired  the  love  of  Bagnal's 
sister  with  fonder  eagerness  than  now  his  touJ 
yearned  for  the  heart's  blood  of  her  brother.  He 
watched  the  east  and  longed  for  the  grey  of  nrori^ 
ing. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH   O  NEILL. 


141 


The  tenth  morning  of  August  rose  bright  and 
serene  upon  the  towers  of  Armagh  and  the  silver 
waters  of  Avonraore.  Before  day  dawned,  the 
Englisli  army  left  the  city  in  three  divisions,  and 
at  sun-rise  they  were  winding  through  the  hills 
and  woods  behind  the  spot  where  now  stands  the 
little  church  of  Grange.  The  sun  was  glano* 
ing  on  the  corslets  and  spears  of  their  glitter- 
ing cavalry ;  their  banners  waved  proudly,  and 
their  bugles  rung  clear  in  the  morning  air  ;* 
when,  suddenly,  from  the  thickets  on  both  sides 
of  their  path,  a  deadly  volley  of  musketry  swept 
through  the  foremost  ranks.  O'Neill  had  sta- 
tioned here  five  hundred  light-armed  troops  to 
guard  the  defiles ;  and  in  the  shelter  of  thick 
groves  of  fir-trees  they  had  silently  waited  for  the 
enemy.  Now  they  poured  in  their  shot,  volley 
after  volley,  and  killed  great  numbers  of  the 
English  :  but  the  first  division,  led  by  Bagnal  in 
person,  after  some  hard  fighting,  carried  the  pass, 
dislodged  the  marksmen  from  their  position  and 
drove  them  backwards  into  the  plain.  The  centre 
division  under  Cosby  and  Wingfield,  and  the 
/ear-guard  led  by  Cuin  and  Billing,  supported  in 
flank  by  the  cavalry  under  Brooke,  Montacute 
and  Fleming,"!"  now  pushed  forward,  speedily 
cleared  the  difficult  country  and  formed  in  the 
open  ground  in  front  of  the  Irish  lines.  "  It  was 

"Serene  etgrato  die,  vexillis  explicatis,  tubarum 
clanj:^ore  tibiarum  conoontu,"  dtc.  —  0' Sullivan.  He  ia 
tlio  only  writer,  Irish  orforeif^n,  who  givcB  an  int(;lli- 
f,'iblc  account  of  O'Neill's  battles  ;  but  he  was  a  sol- 
dier as  well  as  a  chronicler, 
t  Camden  Queen  Eliz. 


142 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


not  quite  safe,"  says  an  Irish  chronicler,  (in  adml^ 
ration  of  Bagnal's  disposition  of  his  forces)  "  fe<y 
attack  the  nest  of  griffins  and  den  of  lions  in 
which  were  placed  the  soldiers  of  London."* 
Bagnal,  at  the  head  of  his  first  division,  and 
aided  by  a  body  of  cavaliy,  charged  the  Irish 
light-armed  troops  up  to  the  very  entrenchments, 
in  front  of  wliich  O'Neill's  foresight  had  pre- 
pared some  pits,  covered  over  with  wattles  and 
grass ;  and  many  of  the  English  cavalry  rushing 
impetuously  forward,  rolled  headlong,  both  meu 
and  horses,  into  these  trenches  and  perished 
Still  the  Marshal's  chosen  troops,  with  loud  cheerd 
and  sliouts  of  "  St.  George,  for  merry  England  !*" 
resolutely  attacked  the  entrenchments  that 
stretclied  across  tlie  pass,  battered  them  with 
cannon,  and  in  one  place  succeeded,  though  with 
heavy  loss,  in  forcing  back  their  defenders.  The;*' 
first  the  main  body  of  O'Neill's  troops  wa5 
brought  into  action  ;  and  with  bagpipes  sounding 
a  charge,  they  fell  upon  the  English,  shouting 
their  fierce  battle-cries,  Lamh-dearg  !  and  O'Don- 
nell  Aboo  !  O'Neill  himself,  at  the  head  of  a  body 
of  horse,  pricked  forward  to  seek  out  Bagnal 
amidst  the  tin-ong  of  battle  ;f  but  they  never 
met:  the  marsiial.  who  had  done  his  devoir  that  day 
like  a  good  soldier,  was  shot  through  the  brain 
by  some  unknown  marksman  :  the  division  lie 
had  led  was  ibrced  back  by  the  furious  onslaught 
of  the  Irish,  and  put  to  utter  rout ;  and,  what 

*  MS.  Life  of  O'Donnell. 

f  "  Tyrone  pricked  forward  with  rix^e  of  envy  and 
♦L'itled  rancoii  r . " — Murysuu. 


lilFE  OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


143 


fijded  to  their  confusion,  a  cart  of  gunpowder 
exploded  amidst  the  English  ranks  and  blew 
many  of  their  men  to  atoms.  And  now  the  ca- 
valry of  Tyr-connell  and  Tyr-owen  dashed  into 
the  plain  and  bore  down  the  remnant  of  Brooke's 
and  Fleming's  horse :  the  columns  of  Wingfield 
and  Cosby  reeled  before  their  rushing  charge—- 
while  in  front,  to  the  war-cry  of  Bataillah- 
Aboo  '*  the  swords  and  axes  of  the  heavy-armed 
galloglasses  were  raging  amongst  the  Saxon 
ranks.  By  this  time  the  cannon  were  all  taken  ; 
the  cries  of  "  St.  George  "  had  failed,  or  turned 
into  death-shrieks  ;  and  once  more,  England's 
royal  standard  sunk  before  the  Red  Hand  of 
Tyr-owen. 

The  last  who  resisted  was  the  traitor  O'Reilly : 
twice  he  tried  to  rally  the  flying  squadrons  but 
was  slain  in  the  attempt :  and  at  last  the  whole  of 
that  fine  army  was  utterly  routed,  and  fled  pell-mell 
towards  Armagh,  with  the  Irish  hanging  fiercely 
on  their  rear.  Amidst  the  woods  and  marshes  all 
connexion  and  order  were  speedily  lost ;  and  as 
O'Donnell's  chronicler  has  it,  they  were  "  pursued 
in  couples,  in  threes,  in  scores,  in  thirties,  and  in 
hundreds,"  and  so  cut  down  in  detail  by  their 
avenging  pursuers.  In  one  spot  especially  the 
carnage  was  terrible,  and  the  country  people  yet 
point  out  the  lane  where  that  hideous  rout  passed 
by,  and  call  it  to  this  day  the  "  Bloody  Loaning." 
Two  thousand  five  hundred  English  were  slain  in 

*  "The  cause  of  the  noble  Staff,"  War-cry  of  the 
Tyr-connell  gallofrlasses,  whose  hereditary  leader  was 
one  of  the  Mac  Swyues  Ware  Anlig. 


144  LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


the  battle  and  flight,  including  twenty-three  su- 
pei-ior  officers,  besides  lieutenants  and  ensigns. 
Twelve  thousand  gold  pieces,  thirty-four  stan- 
dards, all  the  musical  instruments  and  cannon, 
with  a  long  train  of  provision  waggons,  were  a 
rich  spoil  for  the  Irish  army.  The  confederates 
had  only  two  hundred  slain  and  six  hundred 
wounded.* 

Fifteen  hundred  English  found  shelter  in  the 
city,  which  was  forthwith  closely  invested  by  the 
victorious  Irish,  and  "  for  three  days  and  three 
nights  nothing  passed  in  or  out.""j"  On  the  fourth 
day  they  surrendered  the  place ;  and  although 
some  of  the  chieftains  would  have  taken  cruel  re- 
venge upon  these  unfortunate  survivors  of  the 
battle,  O'Neill's  voice  prevailed,  and  they  were 
disarmed  and  sent  in  safety  to  the  Pale.  Port- 
more  was  instantly  yielded  and  its  garrison  dis- 
missed with  the  rest. 

"  Thus,"  says  Camden,  "  Tyr-owen  triumphed 
according  to  his  heart's  desire  over  his  adver- 
sary." All  Saxon  soldiery  vanished  speedily 
from  the  fields  of  Ulster,  and  the  Bloody  Hand 
once  more  waved  over  the  towers  of  Newry  and 
Armagh 

*  0' Sullivan.  See  also  Mac  Geoghegan  and  MS.  Life 
of  O'Donnell.  Moryson  admits  on  the  part  of  the  Eng- 
lish only  1,500  slain.  The  Irish  piously  buried  all  th« 
dead  Irish  Annals  cited  by  Ciirry. 

t  MS.  Life  of  O  ltoniaell. 


VIFE  OF  HUGH  O-I^illLL. 


145 


CHAPTER  XI. 

MUNSTER  TAKES  HEART.  RED  HCGH  IN  CCK- 

NAUGHT. 

A.  D.  1598—1599. 

High  harping  in  Dungannon,  and  in  the  halls  of 
Tyr-connell  ; — and  throughout  broad  Ulster  from 
the  Glynns  to  Ath-Seanagh,  from  Dundalk  to 
Derry-Calgach,  there  was  feasting  and  jubilee, 
and  the  triumph-song  of  many  a  bard.  Surely, 
ye  sweet  singers  of  Ulladh  !  the  second  Hector — 
the  heaven-sent  Moses  of  your  prayers,  has  at 
length  arisen  : — the  children  of  the  Scythic  Eber 
Scot  have  returned ;  and  old  Ireland  is  yet  fated 
to  rise  out  of  the  dust  and  ashes  of  Saxon-land.* 
The  fame  of  this  victory  over  the  detested 
English  was  instantly  spread  abroad  through  all 
the  island  ;  and  O'Neill  was  celebrated  every- 
where as  the  deliverer  of  his  country  and  most 
zealous  champion  of  the  Catholic  religion.  In  this 

•  See  tlie  song  of  Fcarflatha  O'Gnive,  a  poet  of  Clan- 

hugh-buidhe,  in  Walker's  Irish  Bards  "Is  there,  no 

Hector  left  for  the  defence,  for  the  recovery  of  Troy  ? — 
It  is  thine,  oh  I  my  God,  to  send  us  a  second  IVu^ses : — 
thy  dispensations  are  just:  and  unless  the  children  of 
the  »S<;ythian  Eber  Scot  retun;,"  &c,  A  translation  of 
it  by  Callanau  appears  in  the  "Ballad  roclry  of  Ireland," 
121. 


E46 


VirE  OF  HUGH  0'NErLj« 


letter  character  he  drew  into  the  confederacy  many 
lords  of  old  English  race,  but  Catholic  in  faith, 
who  never  would  have  been  found  in  the  Irish 
ranks,  save  to  defend  themselves  from  Elizabeth's 
persecuting  Reformation.  These  two  elements  of 
resistance,  therefore,  national  feeling  and  religious 
zeal,  united  against  the  queen  of  England : — the 
one  party  could  not  endure  her  political  usurpa- 
tion, her  judges,  lords  president  and  sheriffs  ; — - 
the  other  abhorred  her  forced  "  Reformation," 
and  her  undertaking  bishops.  But  every  enemy 
of  England,  from  what  motive  soever,  was  now 
O'Neilf s  sworn  brother,  and  looked  to  the  victo- 
rious Northern  chieftain  as  the  sword  and  shield 
of  their  cause.  All  Leinster  was  in  arms  under 
O'Cavanagh,  O'Byrne,  and  Owen  Mac  Rory 
O'More  of  Leix,  who  had  by  this  time,  with  the 
aid  of  O'Neill's  auxiliary  troops,  expelled  all  Eng 
lish  undertakers  from  his  ancient  territory  (which 
they  had  prematurely  named  "  the  King's 
county,")  and  now  his  clansmen,  with  the  moun- 
tain septs  of  Wicklow,  were  ranging  through  the 
Pale  unopposed  and  levying  tribute  from  the  very 
vallej  of  the  Liffey,  while  Ormond's  English 
troops,  utterly  panic-stricken,  shut  themselves  up 
in  their  forts  aiid  strong-holds,  raised  draw-bridge, 
and  pointed  cannon  from  battlement  and  bastion, 
and  far  from  assailing  their  enemy,  lived  in 
continual  fear,  by  day  and  by  night,  of  surprise 
und  slaughter. 

Munster  also  began  to  breathe  after  the  terri- 
ble agony  oi  that  Geraldine  war,  and  to  look 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neILL. 


»A^th  hope  and  joy  to  the  dawn  that  was  rising  on 
them  from  the  North.  And,  though  there  was  in 
the  South  a  strong  English  army  under  the  "  Lord 
President,"  Sir  Thomas  Norreys,  yet  the  settlers 
who  had  been  lately  "  planted"  in  the  fairest 
tracts  of  Munster  began  to  fear  for  the  security 
of  their  ill-gotten  wealth.*  A  powerful  Catholic 
gentleman  of  Limerick,  named  Pierce  Lacy,  a 
close  ally  of  O'Neill,  sent  messengers  to  the 
North  and  to  Owen  Mac  Rory  O'More,  praying 
that  a  band  of  the  victorious  Irish  of  Ulster  or 
Leinster  under  some  active  leader  might  be  sent 
southward,  where,  so  soon  as  the  national  stan- 
dard should  be  unfurled,  all  the  oppressed  Catho- 
lics and  plundered  Irish  of  Munster  would  rush 
to  join  it  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  holy  church. 
O'Neill  immediately  detached  Richard  Tyrrell  of 
FertuUagh  at  the  head  of  a  chosen  band  from  the 
Northern  army  to  join  O'Moore  ;  and  the  chief 
of  Leix,  leaving  his  brother  to  command  in 
Leinster  during  his  absence,  and  taking  with  him 
the  renowned  victor  of  Tyrrell's  Pass,  marched 
rapidly  through  Ormond,  entered  Desmond,  and 
was  forthwith  joined  by  the  remnants  of  the  un- 
fortunate Geraldines.  The  Knight  of  Glyn,  and 
the  White  Knight,  Fitzmaurice  Baron  of  Lixnaw, 
the  Knight  of  Kerry,  Dermod  and  Donogh  Mac 
Carthy,  the  O'Donoghoes,  Roche,  Viscount  Fer- 
moy,  and  two  powerful  kinsmen  of  Ormond  him- 
self, Thomas  Butler,  Baron  of  Cahir,  and  Richard 
Lord  Mountgarret,  wlio  was  married  to  O'Neill's 
daughfer,  besides  the  O'SuUivans,  O'Driscols, 


Camden 


148 


lilFE  OF  HUGH  O^NEIi^i^. 


O'Donovans,  and  O'Mahonys  of  Carbry,  all  took 
ftrms  in  the  common  cause.  Norreys,  after  shut- 
ting up  a  part  of  his  force  in  garrison  at  Kilmal- 
lock,  retreated  with  the  remainder  to  Cork,  with 
O'More  close  upon  his  rear :  while  the  English 
nndertakers  were  on  all  sides  ejected  from  those 
l^nds  which  their  queen  had  so  lately  taken  it 
upon  herself  to  grant  them.  Their  castles  were 
taken  and  dismantled,  their  houses  burned  down 
and  razed  to  the  ground :  we  hear  of  no  wanton 
Cruelty  done  upon  the  settler?  but  they  were  all 
driven  away  and  forced  to  find  refuge  in  the 
cities  and  garrisons,  and  resume  those  swords 
which  had  carved  them  out  estates  before.* 
Amongst  those  burnt-out  adventurers,  one  can- 
not much  grieve  to  find  the  gentle  poet  of  Kil- 
colman,  now  sheriff  of  Cork.  He  had  but  lately 
finished  that  "  View  of  the  state  of  Ireland,"  of 
which  we  have  already  seen  somewhat,  and  from 
his  retreat  on  "  Mulla's"  banks  had  also  issued 
the  Faerie  Queene,  which  he  had  dutifully  pre- 
sented, with  a  mellifluous  copy  of  verses,  to  the 
Earl  of  Ormond,  then  the  queen's  Lord  Lieute- 
nant and  natural  patron  of  all  undertakers.^  He 

*  This  transaction  in  Munster  seems  to  have  been  pre- 
cisely similar  to  the  resmnption  of  plundered  estates  in 
Ulster  in  1641. 

f  "  Receive,  most  noble  lord,  a  simple  taste 
Of  the  wilde  fruit  which  saluage  soyl  hath  bred,"  &c. 

When  one  reads  of  Spenser's  expulsion  from  Kilcol- 
man,  and  the  burning  of  his  furniture  and  effects,  it  is 
not  easy  to  forget  the  mode  of  treatment  he  had  sug- 
gested for  his  brother  bards  of  Ireland,  who  were  always 
legarded  by  the  English  government,  and  with  reason, 

its  natural  enemies — "  I  wQi'ld  wish."  says  he,  "  that  a 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O^NElLL. 


!49 


was  driven  from  both  house  and  bailiwick,  left 
Ireland  as  poor  as  he  had  entered  it  twenty  years 
before,  and  died  in  London  the  following  year 
for  lack  of  bread  !*  Ah  !  poor  Spenser !  Those 
"  barbarian"  Irish,  with  their  genial  nature  and 
poetical  temperament,  better  knew  how  to  ho- 
nour their  inspired  poets  than  these  proud  Eng- 
lish. Not  a  "  lewd  barde"  of  them  all  but  had 
a  better  reward  than  this. 

So  passed  the  winter  of  1598,  and  by  the  be- 
ginning of  the  following  year  no  English  force 
was  able  to  keep  the  field  throughout  all  Ireland. 
The  Geraldines  and  their  adherents  had  reco- 
vered their  power  and  possessions  in  the  South  ; 
and  as  they  had  yet  no  Earl  of  Desmond  there 
to  take  the  leading  of  their  tribe  (a  thing  un- 
known in  Munster  for  many  an  age)  O'Neill  had 
to  take  order  for  supplying  one.  And  as  the 
kings  of  England  had  sometimes  presumed  to  con- 
fer Irish  chieftaincies  and  estates,  to  be  held  by 
*'  English  tenure,"  even  when  they  had  no  power 
of  securing  to  their  grantees  the  benefit  of  those 

Provost  Marshal  should  be  appointed  in  every  shire, 
which  should  continually  walke  ahout  the  countrey  with 
halfe  a  dozen  or  halfe  a  score  horsemen  to  take  up  such 
loose  persons  as  they  should  finde  thus  wanderinj^,  whom 
he  should  j)unish  by  his  own  nulliority  with  such  paiiies 
as  the  person  slinll  seerTi  to  deserve  :  for  if  hee  be  hut 
once  so  taken  idly  ro^minj^'  hee  may  ])un.ish  him  more 
lij^iitly,  as  with  stocks  or  such  like;  but  if  hee  he  found 
againe  so  loytering  he  may  scourge  him  with  whipj)es  or 
rodds ;  after  which,  if  hee  he  Jigaiue  taken  let  him  have 
the  bitternesse  of  marshall  law." — Vieiv  of  the  State  oj 
Ire  la  ltd. 

*  Ben  Johnson's  Letter  to  Uruiumond  of  Ilawthomden 


150  LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 

gifts  ;  so  the  prinee  of  Ulster,  seeing  he  had  t?-.e 
power,  knew  no  reason  why  he  should  not  create 
an  earl,  to  hold  his  earldom  by  Irish  tenure. 
There  had  been  queen's  O'Donnells,  queen's  Mac 
Gwires,  queen's  bishops  ; — there  should  now  be 
an  O'Neill's  Count  Palatine  of  Desmond.  Earl 
Gerald,  the  last  of  that  title,  had  left  a  son  who 
was  delivered  in  his  youth  to  the  English  as  a 
hostage,  and  had  now,  for  seventeen  years,  lain  a 
prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London.  This  was  the 
true  claimant  of  the  earldom  according  to  Eng- 
lish law  :  but  O'Neill,  having  regard  rather  to 
the  Irish  custom  of  Tanistry  than  to  Saxon  de- 
scents and  inheritances,  sought  out  among  the 
Geraldines  a  fit  man  to  bear  the  weight  of  leader- 
ship in  Munster,  and  James,  the  son  of  Thomas 
the  Red,  and  nephew  to  Gerald,  was  duly  invested 
(by  what  sort  of  official  document  or  ceremonial 
we  are  not  informed)  with  the  dignity,  estates 
and  ancient  privileges  of  Earl  of  Desmond  ;  sti- 
pulating to  hold  the  same  as  a  vassal  and  tribu- 
tary to  the  prince  of  Ulster.*  And  so  having 
established  Irish  power  once  more  in  Munster, 
the  Northern  troops  were  recalled. 

While  O'Neill  was  thus  predominating  over 
all  Ireland,  exercising  sovereign  powers,  and 
cooping  up  the  queen's  troops  within  their  forti- 
fications, one  is  hardly  prepared  to  find  him 
making  more  "  submissions  :"  but  if  Lord  Mount- 
joy's  secretary  is  to  be  believed  (which  the  pro  ■ 
sent  writer  thinks  he  is  not)  this  victorious  chief 

•  "  On  condition  that  (forsooth)  he  should  be  vassal  to 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


-51 


was  now  craving  pardon  of  his  beaten  enemv, 

and  tendering  abject  allegiance  to  the  foreigner: 
*'  May  you  hold  laughter,"  says  that  singular  his- 
torian, "  or  will  you  think  that  Carthage  ever 
bred  such  a  faedifragous,  truce-breaking  wretch, 
when  you  shall  reade,  that  even  in  the  middest 
of  these  garboyles,  whilst  in  his  letters  to  the 
King  of  Spaine  he  magnified  his  victories,  be- 
seeching him  not  to  believe  that  he  would  seeke 
or  take  away  any  conditions  of  peace,  yet,  most 
impudently,  he  ceased  not  to  entertain  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  with  letters  and  messages,  with  offers 
of  submission."  Yet  Moryson  was  not  the  in- 
ventor of  this  falsehood :  such  rumours  were 
really  spread  at  the  time,  to  impose  upon  Catholic 
powers  on  the  Continent,  to  conceal  from  them 
the  true  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  Irish  war 
and  prevent  them  from  sending  troops  here : 
*'  And  to  the  same  purpose,"*  suggests  Sir  Fran- 
cis Bacon,  "nothing  can  be  more  fit  than  a 
treaty,  or  a  shadow  of  treaty,  of  a  peace  with 
Spain  ;  which  methinks  should  be  in  our  power 
to  fasten,  at  least  rumore  tenus,  to  the  deluding 
of  as  wise  a  people  as  the  Irish." 

O'Donnell,  in  the  meantime,  had  cleared  the 
plains  of  Connauglit  of  all  Englishmen,  and  ad- 
herents of  England,  and  had  driven  Sir  Conyers 
Clifford  once  more  into  garrison.    He  kept  his 

•  T'nat  is  the  cutting  off  tlie  opinion  and  expectation 
of  foreif^n  succours." — See  Bacon's  Considerations  touch- 
ing the  Queen  s  Service  in  Ireland.  This  is  the  same 
Bacon  who  wa.s  afterwards  discoverer  of  a  "  Novum  Or- 
gaiKm  iScientiariun."  an<l  silso  Lord  Chancellor  of  Eiitf- 
land. 


152 


LIFE   or  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


Christmas  piously  in  Balljmote  :  then  led  his 
troops  into  Clanrickarde,  plundering  the  countiy 
iind  compelling  the  western  clans  to  acknowledge 
the  jurisdiction  of  his  newly  created  Mac  Wil- 
liam. Athenree  was  taken  by  his  fierce  assault ; 
its  English  garrison  put  to  the  sword,  and  all  the 
plunder  of  the  enemy,  clothing,  arms,  and  many 
herds  of  cattle,  sent  home  to  Tyr-connell.  The 
whole  of  Connaught  had  now  been  over-run  by 
the  Kinel-Conal,  except  only  Thomond :  and 
Red  Hugh's  army  had  a  month's  repose  ;  when 
the  fiery  chief  began  "  to  think  it  long  that  they 
w^ere  at  rest"*  and  prepared  to  invade  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Dal-Cais,  where  Donogh  O'Brien, 
Earl  of  Thomond,  and  the  Baron  of  Inchiquin, 
Btill  retained  their  base  titles  and  preserved  a 
shameful  "loyalty"  to  the  Queen  of  England. 
Thomond  was  doomed  to  plunder  and  slaughter ; 
but  "because  it  would  be  encountering,"  says 
O'Donnell's  chronicler,  "  certain  opposition  and 
battle  to  assail  the  noble  race  who  dwelt  therein, 
the  tribe  of  Cas,  son  of  Conal,  of  the  swift  steedte, 
descended  from  Brian  Boroihme,  son  of  Ken- 
nedy," the  chieftain  took  care  to  gather  a  power- 
ful force  of  all  his  tributaries  and  allies.  He 
summoned  the  clans  to  Ballymote,  and  was 
speedily  attended  by  his  three  brothers,  Rory, 
Manus,  and  Calhbar,  by  Hugh  Oge  O'Donnell, 
O'Boyle,  O'Dogherty,  and  the  Mac  Swynes, 
with  all  the  troops  of  Tyr-connell :  Mac  Gwire 
with  the  clans  of  Fermanagh,  also  attended  this 
fendezvouz ;  and  of  the  tribes  of  Connaught 


MS.  Life  of  OT)onnfeL. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'keILL, 


1^3 


O'Ruarc  and  Mac  William,  with  O'Dowd,  Mac 
Donough,  O'Hara,  O'Kellj,  and  Mac  Dermott. 
We  find  also  in  that  army,  holding  high  com- 
mand under  his  chieftain,  a  certain  Niall  Garbh 
O'Donnell — a  name  accursed — of  whom  we  are 

to  hear  more  in  the  course  of   this  story  

O'Donnell's  Irish  chronicler  is  very  minute  in 
his  detail  of  this  expedition :  how  Red  Hugh 
marched  southwards  silently  and  rapidly,  through 
Clanrickarde,  and  halted  in  the  evening  at  the 
Red  beach  between  Kilcolgan  and  Ardrahan ; 
how  they  bivouacked  in  the  woods,  lighted  fires, 
and  took  food  and  wines  of  Spain  :  how,  at  mid- 
night, they  all  arose  as  one  man,  continued  their 
silent  march,  and  by  the  dawn  of  day  arrived  at 
Clancy's  wood  :  then  how  O'Donnell  *'  as  the 
light  of  day  prevailed  over  the  stars,  advanced  to 
Corcomroe,  and  thence  to  Kilfenora,  sending  out 
strong  parties  to  scour  the  country  and  ravage 
the  lands  of  all  those  who  were  friendly  to  the 
stranger,  or  owned  the  sway  of  Saxon  earls  and 
barons ;  how  Mac  Gwire  attacked  and  took  the 
castle  of  Conor  O'Brien,  Baron  of  Inchiquin, 
and  made  the  baron  prisoner,  while  other  bands 
ranged  through  Thomond,  burning,  slaying,  and 
ravaging  ;  how  they  drove  all  the  cattle  to  Kil- 
fenora;  and  how  the  whole  northern  army, 
having  feasted  and  regaled  themselves,  turned 
their  faces  homewards,  each  party  driving  its  own 
allotted  prey,  and  the  hills  of  liurren  could  hardly 
be  seen  by  reason  of  the  multitudes  of  sheep  and 
cattle  that  trooped  over  them,  wending  their  way 
to  the  pastures  of  Connaught  and  Tyr-connell. 


i64 


LIFE  OP  HUGH  O  NKlui^. 


Now  there  was  a  certain  poet  in  Thomond,  by 
the  name  of  Maoilin  Oge,  and  whilst  lie  was  ab- 
sent from  home,  some  of  the  northern  forayera 
had  driven  away  his  cattle,  not  knowing  that  it 
was  to  ono  of  the  honoured  race  of  bards  those 
sheep  and  kine  belonged :  and  Maoilin  Oge, 
when  he  came  to  know  his  loss,  having  heard  of 
the  generosity  of  this  noble  Red  Hugh,  and  how 
reverently  he  cherished  and  protected  the  bards 
and  Ollamhs  of  the  North,  took  his  harp  and 
hastened  after  the  host  of  O'Donnell :  and  being 
introduced  into  the  chieftain's  presence,  he 
shewed  him,  out  of  ancient  writings,  "  that  it  was 
no  shame  to  the  Dal-Cais  to  be  plundered  by  one 
bearing  the  name  of  Hugh  O'Donnell — and  he 
touched  his  harp  and  sang  how  the  holy  Colum- 
kille  had  foretold  this  very  event — "  that  a  cer- 
tain Hugh,  of  the  Kinel-Conal  should  come  to 
revenge  on  the  Dal-Cais  the  destruction  of  that 
royal  seat  of  Aileach  and  the  carrying  away  of 
tiie  stones  thereof  by  Murkertach  O'Brien."* — 
'  My  wood,  my  grove !"  (so  ran  the  prophecy 
jf  the  blessed  saint,)  "Ah  !  my  dwelling  and  my 
school :  alas  !  oh  God,  a  multitude  of  men.  He 
'vho  will  revenge  my  Aileach :   the  Hugh  of 

•  This  was  six  hundred  years  before.  The  sovereignty 
of  Ireland  had  been  disputed  between  Mac  Lochlin,  chief 
of  the  Hy-Niall  and  the  O'Briens  of  Thomond.  The 
Ulster  chieftain  had  invaded  Munster,  wasted  Limerick, 
and  burned  the  great  palace  of  Kincora,  A  few  yeai*s 
after,  in  revenge,  O'Brien  led  a  great  army  to  the  North, 
levelled  the  famous  royal  residence  of  Aileach,  four  mile& 
from  Derry,  and  caused  his  clansmen  to  carr.''  off  ejich 
man  one  stone  of  it  to  Tliomond. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O^NEILL. 


fi(eclsof  rough  roads,  the  polished  body,  fame 
without  reproach,  long  hair  in  ringlets."  And 
asssuredly  "  he  was  that  Hugh  and  this  plun- 
der of  the  tribe  of  Cas  was  indeed  heaven's  ven- 
geance granted  to  the  prayer  of  the  patron  saint 
of  Tyr-connell.  Then  O'Donnell  was  well  pleased 
both  with  the  poet's  song  and  with  Columba's 
prophecy  :  and  he  restored  to  Maoilin  Oge  all  his 
herds  and  cattle,  and  the  bard  went  on  his  way 
rejoicing,  and  left  his  benediction  with  the 
princely  chief. 

One  must  adnait  that  all  the  expeditions  of  this 
wild  leader,  though  daring  and  dashing,  resem- 
bled more  the  cruel  and  predatory  raids  of  a 
horde  of  savages,  or  of  the  border  clans  of  Scot- 
land a  century  before,  than  any  more  regular  mi- 
litary movements  :  but  an  intense  hatred  of  the 
Saxons  and  of  all  Saxon  usages  was  Red  Hugh*? 
master  passion  :  his  whole  life  was  vowed  to  ven- 
geancG  :  those  cruel  fetters  of  Perrot  had  worn 
his  young  flesh — had  burned  into  his  proud  heart 
his  crippled  feet  yet  bore  the  shooting  pangs  of 
frost  that  had  benumbed  him  while  he  lay  perish- 
ing, in  his  flight,  upon  the  snowy  mountains: 
and  his  daily  thoughts,  his  dreams  b^  night,  were 
of  rooting  out  and  utterly  exterminating  those 
treacherous  foes  of  his  race,  and  all  who  held 
with  them.  The  smoke  of  their  blazing  towers 
was  pleasant  as  incense  to  his  soul,  and  he  deemed 
a  hecatomb  of  their  slain  the  offering  most  grate- 
ful to  heaven. 

Hugh  O'Neill  who  was  now  the  recognized 
leader,  the  head  and  the  heart  of  our  national 
confederacy,  and  director!  its  operations  every- 


HQ  LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEUi.. 

where  throughout  the  land,  at  length  saw  fo- 
reign power  totally  prostrated  in  Ireland,  it8  mi- 
litary resources  annihilated  or  defeated,  its  Irish 
adherents  either  crushed,  or,  what  was  better, 
brought  over  to  the  cause  of  patriotism  and  ho- 
nour :  but  still  he  omitted  no  means  of  strength- 
ening the  league  :  he  renewed  his  intercourse 
with  Spain,  planted  permanent  bodies  of  troops 
on  the  Foyle,  Erne,  and  Blackwater,  engaged  the 
services  of  some  additional  vScots  from  the  West- 
ern Isles,  improved  the  discipline  of  his  own 
troops,  and  on  every  side  made  preparation  to 
renew  the  conflict  with  his  powerful  enemy.  For 
he  well  knew  that  Elizabeth  was  not  the  monarch 
to  quit  her  deadly  gripe  of  this  fair  island  with- 
out a  more  terrible  struggle  thau  had  yet  btmk 
endured. 


• 


IIFB  OP  HUGH  O^NEIIiL. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ESSEX  o'nEILL  at  HOLY-CROSS. 

A.  D.  1599— 1  GOO. 

Bagnal's  death,  and  the  signal  disaster  of  the 
Yellow  Ford,  frightened  and  enraged  Queen 
Elizabeth's  government  and  people.  The  mili- 
tary prowess  of  this  formidable  Northern  chief 
was  even  exaggerated  in  their  estimate  ;  and 
Moryson  himself  tells  us  that  "  the  general] 
voyce  was  of  Tyrone  amongst  the  English  after 
the  defeat  of  Blackwater,  as  of  Hannibal  among 
the  Romans  after  the  defeat  of  Cannae."  The 
queen  was  highly  enraged  against  her  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant for  remaining  idly  in  Leinster,  engaged  in 
j)etty  contention  with  the  O'Mores  and  O'Byrnes, 
wliilst  he  had  intrusted  to  Marshal  Bagnal  the 
leading  of  those  fine  troops  which  she  liad  sent 
him,  to  end,  as  she  hoped,  these  Irish  tvars  at  a 
blow.  Yet  it  was  by  no  means  clear  that  Or- 
mond's  comman<ling  the  army  in  person  would 
have  ensured  a  victory.  An  enemy  was  now  to 
be  dealt  with  such  as  England  had  never  en- 
C(;untcrcd  upon  Irish  soil  before  ;  and  it  was 
plain  tiiat  the  amount  of  forces  hitherto  employed 
in  Ireland  would  no  loiig(;r  stillice.     De  Burgh 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


and  Kildare,  Norreys  and  Bagnal  had  been  suc- 
cessively hurled  back  from  the  frontiers  of  Ulster 
tvith  ignominious  rout  and  overthrow ;  each 
campaign  only  strengthening  O'Neill,  wasting  the 
130wer  and  ruining  the  reputation  of  English  go- 
vernment, until  at  length  a  time  had  come  when 
either  the  Queen  of  England  must  at  once  yield 
up  her  footing  upon  Irish  ground,  or  put  forth 
all  the  powers  of  an  empire  to  retain  it. 

Two  thousand  men  under  Sir  Samuel  Bagnal 
were  hastily  sent  over  to  strengthen  Ormond's 
garrisons  in  the  mean  time.  And  Robert  Deve- 
reux,  Earl  of  Essex,  then  the  most  powerful  sub- 
ject in  England,  the  queen's  prime  favourite,  and 
son  to  that  Essex  who  had  made  the  unfortunate 
attempt  to  plunder,  convert,  and  colonize  the 
North,  was  selected  as  Lord  Lieutenant  and  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  splendid  army  now  des- 
tined for  Irish  service.  Some  dark  intrigues  there 
were  connected  witli  his  appointment — malignant 
contrivances  of  his  enemies  at  court — self-seeking 
machinations  of  his  friends  at  court — a  whole 
net-work  of  court  intrigue  ;  which  may  be  found 
in  English  historians,  but  in  which  we  do  not 
here  concern  ourselves.  Essex  had  commanded 
with  some  distinction  against  the  Spaniards,  and 
ardently  coveted  this  Irish  service  as  a  sphere  in 
which  he  might  arrive  at  still  higher  fame  ; — 
might  crush  the  dreaded  O'Neill ;  and,  as  his 
friend  and  councillor  Sir  Francis  Bacon  expressed 
it,  "  refound  and  replant  the  policie  of  that  na- 
tion." "  Which  design,"  continues  Bacon,  *'  as  it 
doth  descend  to  you  from  your  noble  father  who 
lost  his  life  in  that  actioii  (  noii^h  he  paid  tribute 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  0'r,Jill.l.. 


159 


to  nature  and  not  to  fortune,  so  I  hope  your  lord- 
ship shall  be  as  fatal  a  captain  to  this  war  as 
Afric?.nus  was  to  the  war  of  Carthage,  after  that 
both  his  uncle  and  his  father  had  lost  their  lives 
in  Spain  in  the  same  war."* 

*  Letter  from  Sir  Francis  Bacon  to  Essex  Scrinia 

Sacra.  This  celebrated  person,  who  was  afterwards 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  and  (being  one  of  the 
basest  of  mankind)  sold  his  judgments  to  the  highest 
bidders,  was  about  this  time  much  occupied  in  devising 
methods  of  reducing  and  governing  Ireland  for  behoof  of 
jus  friend  and  patron  Essex.  His  thoughts  on  the  sub- 
ject are  conveyed  in  the  "Considerations  touching  the 
Queen's  Service  in  Ireland,"  cited  before,  and  in  two  or 
tliree  letters  to  Essex  himself.    A  passage  from  the 

Considerations"  will  indicate  the  general  nature  of  his 
plans: — "One  of  the  principal  pretences  whereby  the 
heads  of  the  rebellion  have  prevailed  both  with  the  peo- 
ple and  the  foreigner  hath  been  the  defence  of  the  Ca- 
tholique  religion:  and  it  is  that  likewise  hath  made  the 
foreigner  reciprocally  more  plausible  with  the  rebel. 
Therefore  a  toleration  of  religion /or  a  time  not  definite, 
except  it  be  in  some  principal  towns  and  precincts  after 
the  manner  of  some  Erencli  edicts,  seenieth  to  me  to  be 
a  matter  warrantable  by  religion,  and  in  polic-ie,  of  abso- 
lute necessity.  Neitlier  if  any  Englisii  Tapist  or  rccu- 
sjmt  shall  for  liberty  of  his  conscience  transter  his  per- 
son, family,  and  fortunes  thither,  do  Iliold  it  a  matter  ot 
danger,  but  exj)e(lient  to  draw  on  undertaking  and  to 
further  x)opulation."  Upon  which  fraudulent  and  cruel 
suggestion  the  Englisli  government  really  acted ;  for  in 
the  last  years  of  Elizal)eth,  and  first  of  James,  no  inter- 
ference was  made  witli  C^atholic  wornhip  in  Ireland  ; 
6on)e  monasteries  were  refiaired,  priests  appeared  with- 
out disguise,  and  the  mass  was  celebrated  openly.  But 
liie  toleration  was  "for  a  time  not  definite;"  and,  in 
1(X)5,  King  .James  issued  that  famous  proclamation  com. 
mencing — "  Whereas  his  mnjesty  is  mformed  that  hifi 
subjects  of  Ireland  have  been  Ueoeived  by  a  fubie  rejiort, 


160 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


Under  such  auspices,  with  such  high  hopes, 
and  with  twenty  thousand  men  at  his  back,  the 
Earl  of  Essex  set  forth  for  Ireland,  and  laeded 
in  Dublin  on  the  loth  of  April,  1599.*  His  in- 
structions were  to  neglect,  in  a  great  degree,  all 
chiefs  of  lesser  note,  and  to  strike  at  the  head  of 
the  Irish  confederacy  by  stationing  strong  garri- 
sons at  Lough  Foyle  and  Ballyshannon,"]"  and 
then,  having  barred  O'Neill's  country  from  its 
communications  with  Gonna ught  and  Scotland, 
to  grapple  with  the  chieftain  in  his  fastnesses  of 
Tyr-owen.  The  plans  were  unexceptionable 
the  means  furnished  to  carry  them  out  were  enor- 

that  his  majesty  was  disposed  to  allow  them  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  the  free  choice  of  a  religion  :  he  hereby 
declares  to  his  beloved  subjects  of  Ireland,  that  he  will 
not  admit  of  any  such  lil)erty  of  conscience  as  they  were 
made  to  expect  by  such  report."  And  upon  that  decla- 
ration he  most  strictly  acted.  The  same  Bacon,  in  one 
of  his  private  letters  to  Essex  (Scinia  Sacra)  suggests 
for  Ireland  what  lie  calls  the  "  princely  policie,"  " 
weaken  by  division  and  disunion."  Oh,  sage  Sir  Francis  ! 
Thou  hast  indeed  found  the  true  Org  anon  of  Irish  go- 
vernment : — these  golden  rules  of  thine, — to  deceive  by 
treacherous  concihation, — to  weaken  by  division, — are 
to  be  the  soul  and  marrow  of  EngUsh  pohcy  in  Ireland 
for  ever : — and  for  this  thou  slialt  sit,  robed  in  purest 
ermine,  on  the  liighest  judicial  seat  of  thy  country,  and 
slialt  keep  the  conscience  of  a  king ! 

*  Besides  the  large  army  wliich  had  been  prepared  for 
him  he  demanded,  when  about  to  leave  England,  that 
two  more  regiments  of  old  soldiers  should  be  placed  at 
his  disposal ;  which  was  immediately  compUed  with — 
"He  had  an  army  assigned  him,"  says  Mory son,  "as 
^eat  as  himself  required,  and  such  for  number  and 
strength  as  Ireland  liad  never  yet  seene." 

+  Camden. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O^NElLL. 


m 


nious  :  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  the  Man 
was  a-vvanting. 

O'Neill  and  his  confederates  were  not  dismayed 
at  the  arrival  of  this  great  army  and  its  magnifi- 
cent leader.  They  did  not  now,  what  had  been  too 
frequent  in  Ireland,  and  what  appears  to  have  been 
looked  for  in  the  present  case,  vie  with  each  other 
in  proffering  submissions  and  suing  for  pardons. 
O'Neill  had,  in  Ulster,  six  thousand  veteran  and 
victorious  troops  ;  no  landing  of  foreigners  was 
likely  to  be  made  in  Lough  Foyle  without  stern 
resistance ;  and  the  chief  himself,  with  his  main 
body  occupied  the  passes  north  of  Dundalk, 
calmly  watching  for  the  first  movement  of  his 
enemy.  O'Donnell  with  four  thousand  men,  was 
holding  Con  naught,  and  guarding  the  defiles 
near  Lough  Erne ;  O'More  had  greatly  increased 
his  forces  in  Leinster  ;  and,  in  the  South,  the 
Geraldines,  headed  by  O'Neill's  Earl  of  Desmond, 
were  once  more  in  arms  and  eager  to  wipe  away 
the  shame  of  their  former  defeats.  Ir^and  had 
never  been  so  strong,  so  proud,  or  so  united. 
Foreign  nations  also,  when  they  saw  her  so  well 
able-  to  help  herself,  began  to  offer  their  assis- 
tance ;  and,  early  in  June,  a  ship  arrived  from 
Spain  in  the  bay  of  I)(>ih^l':;i1,  cai-rying  ai'iiis  for 
two  thousand  men,  all  wliich  O'Donnell  divided 
into  two  equal  parts,  on(;  for  himself,  and  the 
otlier,  says  his  chronicler,  "  he  sent  to  Hugh 
O'Neill,  as  was  becoming." 

Lord  Essex  soon  showed  wliat  mettle  was  in 
him.  Inst(;;id  of  marching  in  ibice  upon  the 
North,  he  began  to  waste  liis  strength  l)y  petty 
expeditions  into  Muuster.  an<l  against  C}'iMore. 

L 


lt)2 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'neILJ.. 


He  gave  the  command  of  all  his  cavalry  to  his 
friend  Lord  Southampton  ;  conferred  the  honour 
of  knighthood  and  an  oflSce  of  high  trust  upqn 
one  John  Harington,  a  trifling  courtier  and  de- 
voted slave  of  his  own  ;  then  led  his  vast  army 
to  besiege  Cahir  castle,  a  fortress  of  the  Butlers 
situated  on  the  Suir  ;*  but,  before  he  reached  it, 
whilst  he  marched  through  Leix,  five  hundred  of 
the  O'Mores  waited  for  him  in  a  defile,  fell  upon 
his  rear-guard,  slew  many  of  his  men,  and  shore 
go  many  waving  plumes  from  the  high-crested 
cavalry  of  England  that  the  place  was  afterwards 
named  by  the  Irish,  Bearna-na-cleite,  the  Pass  of 
Plumes.^  Essex,  however,  held  on  his  way 
to  Cahir  ;  invested  the  castle,  battered  it  with 
cannon,  and  after  ten  days'  stout  resistance,  and 
some  hard  fighting  with  Desmond  and  Redmond 
Burke  who  came  to  relieve  the  place,  succeeded 
in  taking  it.  Then,  having  received  submissions 
from  Lords  Cahir  and  Roche,  he  advanced  into 
Limerick,  but  near  Crome  was  encountered  by 
the  Geraldines  and  Mac  Carthys.  Sir  Thomas 
Norreys,  Lord  President  of  Munster,  was  slain 
in  the  battle,}:  and  the  Englisli  army  was  totally 
defeated  and  forced  to  retire  with  heavy  loss  and 

•  Moryson.  f  O'Sullivan. 

X  O'Sullivan.  The  English  chroniclers  make  no  men- 
tion of  this  battle  :  they  always  suppress  as  far  as  possi- 
ble whatever  is  unfavourable  to  her  majesty's  arms :  but 
the  author  of  the  Pacata  Hihernia,  as  if  incidentally, 
speaks  of  the  "  unfortunate  death  of  Sir  Thomas  I^orris, 
lately  slaine  by  the  rebels ;"  and  also  tells  us  that,  at 
this  time,  the  same  "  rebels"  were  "swollen  with  pride  by 
reason  of  their  manifest  victories,  which  almost  in  all 
encounters  tiiey  had  lately  obtained." 


LIFE   OF  HUGH   o'neILL.  163 

disgrace  towards  the  Pale,  closely  pursued  for  six 
days  by  the  victorious  Irish.  When  Lord  Essex 
arrived  in  Dublin,  stung  by  defeat  and  shame,  he 
found  that  a  body  of  six  hundred  men  whom  he 
had  stationed  on  the  borders  of  the  O'Byrne's 
country,  had  been  set  upon  by  the  Irish  moun- 
taineers and  utterly  routed  with  terrible  carnage. 
Essex  chose  to  impute  this  disaster  to  miscon- 
duct :  he  subjected  the  officers  who  had  com- 
manded that  detachment  to  a  trial  by  court-mar- 
tial ;  and,  with  the  ferocious  cruelty  that  belongs 
to  a  coward,  decimated  the  surviving  soldiers. 

Soon  after  that,  finding  that  the  queen  was 
impatient  of  that  petty  warfare,  and  displeased 
that  he  had  not  yet  measured  swords  with  O'Neill, 
he  wrote  her  majesty  a  long  letter,*  describing 
the  many  difficulties  he  had  to  contend  with,  the 
powerful  and  disciplined  troops  of  the  Irish,  con- 
sisting, as  he  says,  of  men  with  stronger  bodies 
and  more  perfect  in  the  use  of  arms  than  her 
majesty's  forces  :  and  he  tells  the  queen  that  to 
subdue  these  Irish  their  priests  must  be  hunted 
down  ;  that  Bacon's  policy  of  division  and  dis- 
union must  be  resorted  to  ;  and  that  all  purpose 
of  establishing  English  law,  sheriffs  and  the  like, 
throughout  the  island  must  be  well  concealed 
until  the  military  power  of  the  chiefs  should  be 
/uined.  Then  he  developes  a  systematic  plan  for 
reducing  the  North  :  to  guard  the  coasts,  to  plant 
garrisons,  to  lay  waste  the  country  : — most  judi- 
cious devices  for  the  purpose,  not  one  of  which 


X64  i.TFE  OF  HUGH  o'KEII.L. 

be  ever  attempted  to  carry  into  effect,  being  in- 
deed wholly  incompetent  for  such  a  service.  And 
the  letter  concludes,  as  was  usual  in  all  commu- 
nications from  Elizabeth's  courtiers,  with  ex- 
pressions of  passionate  admiration  for  her  majes- 
ty's person,  and  constancy  eternal. 

All  this  did  not  satisfy  the  imperious  queen  ; 
and  at  last  Essex,  for  very  shame,  was  obliged  to 
announce  his  purpose  of  marching  northwards 
against  O'Neill ;  then  suddenly  another  urgent 
occasion  arose,  that  he  should  first  go  to  Leix 
and  O'Fally  against  the  O'Mores  and  O'Connors, 
whom,  says  the  historian,  "  he  brake  with  ease  :" 
and  after  that,  finding  his  army  much  weakened, 
he  asked  for  a  reinforcement  of  one  thousand 
men  before  he  could  venture  upon  O'Neill.  These 
were  speedily  sent  to  him  :  and  now  at  length  he 
seemed  resolved  upon  the  northern  war,  and  ac- 
tually sent  orders  to  Sir  Conyers  Clifford  to  at- 
tack Belleek  on  the  Saimer,  so  as  to  cause  a  di- 
version on  that  side,  while  he  should  himself  pe- 
netrate Ulster  by  Dundalk  and  Newry.  But 
once  again  he  changed  his  mind,  and,  the  summer 
being  nearly  wasted,  wrote  again  to  England  that 
he  could  do  no  more  this  year,  except  draw  his 
forces  towards  the  borders  of  Ulster.*  The  truth 
seems  to  be,  that  this  courtier-general  had  no 
stomach  for  the  North  ;  he  trembled  to  encounter 
the  conqueror  of  far  abler  leaders  than  himself, 
and  his  craven  heart  melted  within  him  at  the 
very  name  of  Blackwater. 

Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  however,  who  was  a  ve- 

*  Morvson. 


i 


LIFE   OF  HOGH  O'NEILL. 


165 


teran  soldier,  and  not  a  courtier,  having  received 
his  orders  iVom  the  comrnander-in-chief,  set  forth 
to  execute  them  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  men, 
co'iisisting  of  fourteen  hundred  infantry  and  Lord 
Southampton's  horse,  with  some  auxiliary  cavalry 
supplied  by  Clanrickarde,  and  commanded  by 
Lord  Dunkellin.  Long  before  Clifford  was  ready 
to  march,  O'Donnell  and  O'Ruarc  had  intelli- 
gence of  the  intended  movement,  and  were  already 
waiting  for  him  in  the  mountains  of  Sligo  and 
Bretfni,  "chasing  wild  deer"  to  pass  the  time 
until  nobler  game  should  come.*  Clifford  left 
Boyle  and  marched  northward  by  the  passes  of 
the  Corsliabh  mountains,  till  he  arrived  at  a 
wooded  gorge,  which  the  general  thought  it  pru- 
dent to  explore  first  with  the  infantry,  leaving 
his  baggage,  cavalry  and  artillery  on  the  plain. 

He  led  the  troops  himself  into  the  defile,  and 
when  he  had  advanced  so  far  as  to  make  retreat 
perilous,  the  bagpipes  of  the  Irish  were  heard 
both  in  front  and  on  every  side :  the  cry  of 
O'Donnell-aboo  !  rung  through  the  hills  ;  and, 
almost  before  the  English  saw  an  enemy,  with 
the  rusli  of  a  winter  torrent  the  Clan-Conal  was 
upon  thcni.  Clifford's  soldiers  fought  bravely, 
and  sustained  the  charge  like  men  who  knew  that 
to  turn  tiieir  backo  was  death :  but  nothing 
could  stand  against  the  fierce  onset  of  O'Don 
nell's  chinsmen  :  Clifford  himself  and  Sir  Henry 
Ratclilfe  were  slain,  and  their  whole  force  was 
soon  totally  rout(jd  and  driven  back  with  slaugh- 
ter into  the  plain.    The  cavalry,  under  Jcphson, 


•  MS.  Life  of  O'DonnciL 


166 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


having  now  ground  where  they  could  act,  dashed 
a:nongst  the  Irish  and  charged  them  up  to  the 
very  skirts  of  the  wood :  but  after  a  severe 
struggle  the  cavalry  also  yielded,  and  the  whole 
army  rotreated,  or  rather  fled,  to  Boyle  abbey, 
pursued  for  three  miles  by  the  victorious  Irish.* 
Next  day  a  council  of  war  was  held  in  Boyle  by 
the  surviving  officers,  Jephson,  Lord  Dunkellia 
and  Sir  Arthur  Savage  ;  and,  as  they  heard  that 
O'Donnell's  entire  force  was  at  hand,  they  thought 
it  best  to  abandon  the  whole  expedition  and  with- 
draw their  troops  into  garrison,  f 

This  battle  of  the  Corsliabh  mountainsf  wag 
followed  by  the  surrender  of  Sligo  to  O'Donnell. 
That  place  had  been  held  for  the  English  by 
Theobald  Burke  "  of  the  Ships"  and  O'Connor 
Sligo  :  but  now  Burke  made  sail,  with  all  his 
ships,  for  Galway ;  and  O'Connor,  having  sub- 
mitted to  O'Donnell,  was  reinstated  in  his  chief- 
taincy, on  engaging  to  assist  his  countrymen 
against  the  English. 

Another  royal  army  scattered,  like  chaff,  upon 
the  borders  of  Ulster  :  another  veteran  general 
slain :  the  months  of  summer  trifled  away :  the 
army  wearied  by  driftless  expeditions,  disheart- 
ened by  defeat,  and  thinned  by  the  Irish  battle- 
axes  :  these  had  been  hitherto  the  net  result  of 
an  enterprize  of  such  pith  and  moment  as  the 

*  IMoryson  ;  Mac  Geoghegan.  The  latter  states  the 
numbers  killed  on  the  side  of  the  English  at  1,400,  tha 
former  at  120.  Moryson  also  excuses  the  flight  of  Jeph- 
son's  horse,  for  that  their  powder,  he  sa^-s,  was  spent. 

t  Motyson. 

t  Generally  miscalled  "  the  Curlews." 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NLILL. 


167 


expedition  under  Lord  Essex.  Having  failed, 
however,  in  his  military  operations,  we  are  next  to 
see  his  lordship  trying  negotiation.  On  O'Neill's 
invitation  he  met  the  chief  at  the  old  place  of 
parley,  near  Dundalk :  they  were  both  on  horse- 
back at  opposite  sides  of  the  "  ford  Ballaclinch  ;"* 
and  O'Neill,  ever  the  flower  of  courtesy,  spurred 
his  horse  into  the  middle  of  the  stream  while 
Essex  stood  upon  the  opposite  bank.  First  they 
had  a  private  conference,  in  which  Lord  Essex, 
won  by  the  chivalrous  bearing  and  kindly  address 
of  the  chief,  became,  say  English  historians,  too 
confidential  with  an  enemy  of  his  sovereign,! 
spoke  without  reserve  of  his  pretensions,  his 
daring  hopes  and  most  private  thoughts  of  ambi- 
tion ;  until  O'Neill  had  sufficiently  read  his  secret 
soul,  fathomed  his  poor  capacity  and  understood 
the  full  meanness  of  his  shallow  treason.  Then 
Cormac  O'Neill  and  five  other  Irish  leaders 
were  summoned  on  the  one  side ;  on  the  other 
Lord  Southampton  and  an  equal  number  of  Eng- 
lish officers  ;  and  a  solemn  parley  was  opened  in 
due  form.  On  this  occasion  the  demands  of 
O'Neill  seemed  to  have  been  precisely  what  he 
had  always  required  before — freedom  ol" religion- 
exemption  from  English  government — restitution 
of  plunder,  (or  in  English  phraseology,  of  for- 
feited estates :)  and  Essex,  it  seems,  protested  on 
bis  part  that  he  thought  those  terms  altogether 
just,  and  promised  to  use  his  influence  with  the 
queen  to  have  them  agreed  upon  as  the  basis  of 


Moryson. 


t  Camden ;  Moryeon. 


168  LIFE    OF   HUGH   O  NEILL. 

a  peace.  For  the  present  the  conference  ended 
in  the  parties  agreeing  to  a  six  weeks'  truce,  each 
retaining  a  right  to  begin  hostilities  again,  upon 
giving  notice  to  the  other  fourteen  days  before.* 
This  notable  truce  had  scarcely  been  concluded 
until  Essex,  taking  violently  to  heart  a  severe 
rebuke  contained  in  a  letter  from  the  queen, 
and  fuming  like  a  peevish  child,  suddenly,  in 
the  month  of  September,  threw  up  his  Irish 
command,  left  all  powers  of  government  in  the 
hands  of  Archbishop  Loftus  and  Sir  George 
Carew — hurried  to  London,  attended  by  his  crea- 
t  ire  Harington  and  some  others,  and  flung  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  her  majesty — a  place  better 
suited  to  him  than  an  Ulster  hill-side,  with  dark 
woods  around  him,  and  the  Bloody  Hand  of 
O'Neill  beckoning  him  onward.  How  he  was 
received  at  Greenwich;  how  the  virago  queen 
ordered  him  into  instant  arrest ;  how  she  stormed 
and  swore  at  his  presumption  in  daring  to  quit 
his  post  in  Ireland  without  leave  asked,  what 
treasons  were  alleged  against  him,  and  how  it 
.  fared  with  him  thereafter ; — all  this  belongs  to 
English  history,  not  to  Irish.  Yet  one  reads 
with  pleasure  how  the  queen  spurned  from  her 
presence  the  foolish  knight  Harington  as  he 
kneeled  at  her  feet  and  sought  to  excuse  his  un- 
fortunate master  : — "  She  catched  at  my  girdle 
when  I  kneeled  to  her,"  says  liarington,  "  aud 

*  For  this  conference,  see  Caraden,  Moryson.  It  was 
one  of  the  treasons  afterwards  charged  against  Essex 
that  he  had  entertained  these  proposals,  and  engaged  t-J 
support  them. 


I-IFE  OF  HUGH  O  iNEILL. 


swore,  '  By  God's  Son  I  am  no  Queen  :  that  man 
is  above  me.'  "  Then  she  demanded  of  Harington 
a  journal  which  he  had  been  ordered  to  keep  of 
the  transactions  in  Ireland  ;  and  on  reading  the 
record  of  disgrace,  said  fiercely,  "  By  God's  Son 
ye  are  all  idle  knaves  and  the  Lord  Deputy 
worse"* — in  which  sentiment  of  her  majesty  there 
are  few  that  will  not  probably  concur. 

But  to  return  to  Ireland  :  Hugh  O'Neill  had 
not  been  idle.  He  had  renewed  his  inter- 
course with  Spain  ;  and  King  Philip  the  Second 
having  died  in  this  very  month  of  September,  his 
successor,  who  appears  to  have  been  impressed 
with  a  higher  idea  of  the  importance  of  the  reli- 
gious war  in  Ireland,  instantly  despatched  two 
envoys  to  O'Neill — Don  Martin  de  la  Cerda,  and 
Mattheo  of  Oviedo,  the  latter  of  whom  was  an 
ecclesiastic  and  appointed  by  the  pope  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Dublin.  They  brought  to  Ire- 
land papal  indulgences  for  those  who  should  fight 
against  English  heresy  ;  and  presented  O'Neill 
with  a  "phoenix  plume,"  bkssed  by  his  holiness, 
and,  what  was  more  useful,  with  22,000  pieces  of 
gold.f 

The  six-weeks'  truce  made  with  Essex  had 
expired  :  and  O'Neill  sent  warning  to  the  queen's 
council  that  in  fourteen  days  he  would  take  the 
field  again.  In  the  mean  time  he  marched  through 
the  centre  of  the  isUmd,  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
to  the  South  ; — a  kind  of  royal  progress,  which 

*  Ilarinrcton's  NugcB  Antigua,  cited  hy  Tingard 
t  O'Sullivan ;  Moryson. 


170  ^^^^  HUGH  O'NEILL. 

he  tliought  fit  to  call  a  pilgrimage  to  Holy  Cross : 

for  lie  was  aware  that  religion  was  the  bond  of 
union  amongst  his  adherents  in  Munster,  and  ac- 
cordingly appeared  there,  not  in  his  character  of 
a  Celtic  chieftain,  but  rather  as  the  pope's  cham- 
pion and  leader  of  the  Catholic  cause.  He  held 
princely  state  at  Holy  Cross,  concerted  measures 
with  the  Southern  lords,  and  distributed  a  mani- 
festo, announcing  himself  as  the  accredited  De- 
fender of  the  Faith.  Those  chiefs  whom  he 
found  zealous  in  the  cause  he  strengthened  and 
encouraged :  "  from  such  as  he  held  doubtful," 
says  Stafford,*  "  he  took  pledges,  or  detained 
them  prisoners put  in  irons  the  White  Knight 
and  his  son-in-law,  Donogh  Mac  Cormac  Carty, 
whom  he  found  trafficking  with  the  enemy  ;  dis- 
placed Donal  Mac  Carthy  from  the  chieftaincy 
of  Clan-Carrha,  and  advanced  to  that  dignity  Flo- 
rence Mac  Carthy,  who  was  more  devoted  to  the 
good  cause.  Those  who  still  held  back  from  the 
national  confederacy,  and  could  not  be  moved  by 
persuasion,  he  treated  as  enemies,  wasting  their 
lands  and  pursuing  them  with  fire  and  sword. — 
that  so  they  might  be  brought  to  a  better  mind. 
One  of  the  most  powerful  of  these  refx-actory 
lords  was  the  Viscount  Barry.  O'Neill  therefore 
let  loose  a  body  of  troops  upon  his  country,  took 
some  prisoners,  and  drove  away  a  spoil  of  three 
thousand  cows  and  four  thousand  horses ; — and 

*  Or  rather  Carew:— author  of  the  Pacata  Hibernia. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


171 


then,  having  given  him  so  intelligible  a  warning, 
reasoned  with  hini  earnestly  by  letter  :* — 

*'  My  Lord  Barry, — ^Your  impietie  to  God,  cruoltie 
to  your  soule  and  bodie,  tyrannie  and  ingratitude  both 
to  your  followers  and  country  are  inexcusable  and  into- 
lerable. You  separated  yourself e  from  the  unitie  of 
Quest's  mysticall  bodie,  the  Catholicke  Church.  You 
know  the  sword  of  extirpation  hangeth  over  your  head 
as  well  as  ours,  if  things  fall  out  other  wayes  than  well : 
you  are  the  cause  why  all  the  nobilitie  of  the  South  (from 
the  east  part  unto  the  west)  you  being  linked  unto  each 
one  of  them,  either  in  affinitie  or  consanguinitie,  are  not 
linked  together  to  shake  off  the  cruell  yoake  of  heresie 
and  tyrannic,  with  which  our  soules  and  bodies  are  op- 
prest.  All  those  aforesaid,  depending  of  your  resolu- 
tion, and  relying  to  your  judgment  in  this  common  cause 
of  our  religion  and  countrey ;  you  might  forsooth  with 
their  helpe,  (and  the  reste  that  are  combyned  in  this 
holy  action,)  not  only  defende  yourselfe  from  the  incur- 
sion and  invasion  of  the  Enghsh,  but  also  (by  God's 
assistance,  who  miraculously  and  above  all  expectation 
gave  good  successe  to  the  cause  principally  undertaken 
for  his  glorie,  exaltation  of  religion,  next  for  the  restau- 
ration  of  the  ruines  and  preservation  of  the  countrey,) 
expel  them  and  deliver  [them  and]  us  from  the  most 
miserable  and  cruell  exaction  and  subjection,  enjoy  your 
/•eUgion,  safetie  of  wifo  and  children,  life,  lands,  and 
goods,  which  aU  are  in  hazard  through  your  folly  En- 
ter, I  beseech  you,  into  the  closet  of  your  conscience. 
And  like  a  wise  man  weigh  seriously  the  end  of  your 
actions,  and  take  advise  of  those  that  can  instruct  you 
and  informe  you  better  than  your  owne  private  judg- 
ment can  leade  you  unto.  Consider  and  reade  with  at- 
tention and  settled  mind  tlus  discourse  I  send  you;  that 
it  may  please  God  to  set  open  your  eyes  and  gratmt  you 
a  better  minde.  From  the  campe  this  instant,  Tuesday, 
the  sixt  of  Marcli,  according  to  the  new  computation. 
I  pr'V  you  to  send  me  the  papers  I  sent  you  as  soon  aa 
your  honour  sliaU  reade  tlie  same. 

•«  O'Neill." 


Pacata  Hibemia. 


172 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


Lord  Barry's  answer  was  spirited :  lie  reminded 
O'Neill,  that  he,  an  Anglo-Irish  baron,  was  alto- 
gether differently  circumstanced  with  respect  to 
the  Queen  of  England,  from  the  ancient  Celtic 
race  ; — which  indeed  was  true  : — "  for  you  shal] 
understand,"  he  says,  "  that  I  hold  my  lordships 
and  lands,  immediately  under  God,  of  her  ma- 
jestic and  her  most  noble  progenitors,  by  corpo- 
rall  service,  and  of  none  other,  by  very  ancient 
lenour;  which  service  and  tenour  none  may  dis- 
pense withal  but  the  true  possessor  of  the  crowne 
of  England,  b  ing  now  our  sovereign  lady  Queen 
Elizabeth."  He  then  demands  '*  restitution  of 
his  spoyle  and  prisoners ; — and  after,"  he  conti- 
nues, "  unless  you  be  better  advised  for  your  loy- 
alty, use  your  discretions  against  mee  and  mine, 
and  spare  not  if  you  please,  for  I  doubt  not,  with 
the  helpe  of  God  and  my  prince  to  bee  quit  with 
some  of  you  hei-eafter,  though  now  not  able  to 
use  resistance.  And  so  wishing  you  to  become 
true  and  faithful  subjects  to  God  and  your  prince, 
I  end,  at  Barry  Court,  this  twenty-sixe  of  Fe- 
bruary, 1599"— 1600. 

It  does  not  appear  that  O'Neill  used  any  fur- 
ther severity  towards  Barry  or  his  people  in  con- 
sequence of  this  obstinacy. 

All  this  time  the  P^nglish  forces  in  Munster 
lay  closely  shut  up  in  Cork,  and  a  few  other  gar- 
risons, not  daring  to  keep  the  field.  Sir  Warham 
Saint  Leger  and  Sir  Henry  Power  were  now  the 
queen's  commissioners  for  the  government  of  these 
southern  troops  until  a  new  Lord  President  of 
Munster  should  be  appointed  instead  of  Sir  Tho- 
mas Norreys  :  but  while  O'Neill  was  in  the  South 
their  dominion  was  bounded  by  the  walls  of  Cork. 


LIVE  OF  HUGH  o'neILL. 


173 


One  day,  in  this  same  month  of  February,  1600, 
*•  Tyrone  with  his  hell-hounds,"  as  an  English 
historian  has  it,  "  being  not  far  from  Corke," 
these  two  functionaries  were  riding  out  to  take 
the  air,  about  a  mile  from  the  city,  accompanied 
by  some  officers  and  gentlemen  and  a  guard  of 
horsemen.  Suddenly  they  were  confronted  by 
Mac  Gwire  at  the  head  of  a  patrolling  party  of 
O'Neill's  cavalry  ;  and,  on  the  instant.  Sir  War- 
ham  discharged  a  pistol  at  the  chieftain  of  Fer- 
managh and  wounded  him  mortally ;  but  Mac 
Gwire,  before  he  fell,  struck  Saint  Leger  so  crush- 
ing a  blow  with  his  truncheon  upon  the  head, 
that  he  also  fell  dead  from  his  horse.  Save  these 
two,  not  a  blow  was  struck  on  either  side.*  The 
English  betook  themselves  to  the  city,  and  ven- 
tured abroad  more  cautiously  afterwards. 

*'  The  intent  of  O'Neill's  journey,"  as  Moryson 
tells  us,  "was  to  set  as  gre  it  combustion  as  he 
could  in  Munster,  and  so,  taking  pledges  of  the 
rebels,  to  leave  them  under  the  command  of  one 
chief  head."  And  now  having  accomplished  his 
mission  there,  he  turned  his  face  homeward ; 
marched  through  Ormond, — through  Westmeath 
between  Athlone  and  Mullin;_';ar,  and  arrived  in 
his  dominions  of  Ulster  without  meeting  an 
enemy  ;  although  there  was  then  in  Ireland  a 
royal  army  amounting,  after  all  the  havoc  made 
in  it  during  the  pust  year,  to  14,422  foot,  and 
1,231  horse, f  well  provided  with  artillery  and  all 
military  stoics. 

*  Pacata  Hibernia. 

t  MoryBon.  liefore  O'Neill's  wars  we  hear  of  no  Eng- 
lisli  force  eiiii)loye(l  in  Ireland  amounting  to  more  than 
I  wo  or  tiuree  thousand  men. 


174 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NETLIi. 


CHAPTER  XllL 

EXPEDITION  TO  DERRY  TREACHEROUS  POLICY 

OF  MOUNTJOY. 

A.  D.  1600. 

Whilst  the  prince  of  Ulster  was  awakening 
and  organizing  the  South,  a  new  English  de- 
puty had  ariived  in  Dublin,  a  more  formidable 
enemy  by  far  than  any  whom  O'Neill  had  yet 
encountered.  Charles  Blount,  Baron  Mountjoy, 
who  was  not  only  an  experienced  officer,  but 
a  nobleman  of  much  learning  and  taste,  a  "  book- 
ish man,"  as  his  secretary  describes  him, — a 
powerful  theologian  and  confuter  of  Papists, 
arrived  in  February  to  take  the  command  in 
Ireland.  He  had  strict  instructions  to  establish 
at  once  powerful  garrisons  in  Derry  and  Bally- 
shannon  ;*  and  to  effect  this  paramount  object, 
additional  troops  were  to  be  poured  into  Ire- 
land and  placed  at  the  governor's  disposal ; — a 
fleet  of  transport  ships  was  to  be  provided. — 
No  toil,  or  peril,  or  blood  ;  no  fraud,  corrup- 
tion, or  treasure,  was  to  be  spared  which  might 
become  necessary  for  the  reduction  of  this  re- 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O  NETLL. 


175 


nowned  Northern  chieftain  and  his  gallant  Ul- 
ster septs  under  the  sway  of  England.  Not  tnat 
the  queen  of  that  country  had  any  claim  to  the 
North,  or  any  subjects  there,  or  any  just  quarrel 
with  the  inhabitants  or  their  chiefs ;  but  English 
undertakers  lusted  after  the  broad  lands  of  Ul- 
ster ; — English  divines  longed  to  undertake  the 
rich  livings,  the  fertile  carucates,  ballyboes,  and 
plow-lands  wherewith  Catholic  piety  had  en- 
dowed that  Northern  church.  And  besides,  an 
Irish  annalist  tells  us,  "  it  was  great  vexation 
of  mind  to  the  queen  and  her  councils  in  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  that  the  Kinel  Conal,  Kinel 
Eoghain  and  all  Ulster,  besides  those  chiefs  that 
were  confederated  with  them,  had  made  so  long 
and  successful  a  defence  against  them.  They 
also  remembered,  yea,  it  secretly  preyed  like  a 
consumption  upon  their  hearts,  that  so  many  of 
their  people  had  been  lost  and  so  much  of  their 
money  and  wealth  consumed  in  carrying  on  the 
Irish  war."*  So  the  preparations  of  England 
were  on  a  larger  scale  than  ever  :  another  des- 
perate effort  was  determined  upon  ;  and  the  ablest 
•nan  in  the  queen's  dominions  was  sent  to  con- 
duct it. 

Mountjoy  had  not  been  a  week  in  Ireland  when 
news  reached  liim  that  O'Neill  was  on  his  march 
northward,  and  intended  to  pass  through  West- 
meath.  lie  instantly  drew  together  all  his  avail- 
able force  and  set  forth  from  Dublin  to  intercept 

•  Cited  in  the  admirable  liistorical  sketch  of  Deny  in 
the  Ordnance  Memoir. 


176 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O  JNEILL. 


him  :*  but  O'Neill  had  advanced  so  rapidly  that 
when  Mountjoy  arrived  in  Westmeath  the  Irish 
were  already  in  O'Reilly's  country :  he  did  nox 
follow  them  into  the  North,  but  returned  to  the 
Pale  to  take  counsel  with  the  other  English 
officers,  on  the  operations  of  that  grand  campaign 
which  was  now  meditated  against  every  province 
of  the  Island. 

In  the  same  ship  that  carried  Mountjoy  to  Ire- 
land came  Sir  George  Carew,  to  whom  the  queen 
gave  the  title  of  "  President  of  Munster,"  and 
assigned  a  body  of  three  thousand  foot  and  two 
hundred  and  fifty  horse,  for  serving  in  that  pro- 
vince. About  the  same  time  a  powerful  arma- 
ment, destined  for  Lough  Foyle,  embarked  at 
Chester  and  sailed  to  Carrickfergus  bay,  where 
it  was  joined  by  a  thousand  additional  troops 
drafted  from  various  garrisons  in  Ireland.  Sir 
Henry  Docwra  was  chosen  to  command  it ;  and 
on  the  7th  of  May  he  set  sail  from  Carrickfergus, 
with  a  fleet  of  sixty-seven  sail,  carrying  four 
thousand  infantry  and  two  hundred  horse,f  besides 
-the  seamen.  They  took  with  them,  according  to 
Sir  Henry's  own  account,  "  a  quantitie  of  deal- 
boards  and  spars  of  timber,  100  flocke  bedds, 
with  other  necessaries  to  furnish  an  hospitall 
withall ;  one  piece  of  demy  cannon  of  brass,  two 
culverins  of  iron,  a  master-gunner,  two  master- 
masons,  and  two  master-carpenters,  allowed  in 

*  Pacata  Hib, 

t  It  is  an  instance  of  ^^fory son's  uncandid  practice  o{ 
falsifying  nuinbers,  &c.,  that  he  officially  states  Docwra'a 
cavalry  at  100  men ;  when  Sir  Henry  himself  admits  he 
imd  twice  that  number. 


LIFE   OF   HUGH  o'nEILL. 


i>ay,  v;ith  a  grea..  aiimber  of  tooles  and  other 
utensils,  and  with  all  victuall  and  munition  re- 
quisite/'* On  the  14th  this  strong  force  entered 
Lough  Foyle. 

During  those  same  days  that  Docwra's  fleet 
was  coasting  round  the  headlands  of  Antrim, 
Lord  Mountjoy  with  another  army  was  marching 
northwards  in  order  to  draw  away  the  attention 
of  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  from  the  Foyle.  On 
Whit- Sunday  morning  he  passed  the  Moyry,  and 
by  the  16th  of  May  had  occupied  the  country 
around  Newry.  On  the  l7th  Lord  Southampton 
and  Sir  Oliver  Lambert  were  to  form  a  junction 
with  him  ;  and  Mountjoy  sent  Captain  Edward 
Blaney  with  five  hundred  foot  and  fifty  horse  to 
secure  their  passage  through  the  dreaded  Moyry 
defile,  where  O'Neill  had  often  before  turned  back 
the  tide  of  invasion.  O'Neill  was  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood watching  all  these  movements  at  the 
head  of  fourteen  hundred  men.  Blaney  was 
suffered  to  pass  unmolested  towards  Dundalk ; 
and  then  the  Irish  took  up  a  position  at  the  "  four- 
mile-water,"  where  there  was  a  ford  all  environed 
by  woods  in  tlie  very  middle  of  the  pass.  The 
English  soon  appeared,  with  Southampton,  Lam- 
bert and  Blaney,  commanding  a  force  much 
greater  than  O'Neill's.  The  Irish  however  fought 
every  foot  of  ground,  and,  though  finally  forced 
back,  retired  in  good  order  aid  with  but  little 
loss.f 

*  "  A  TKirration  of  the  services  of  the  army  ymployed 
to  Lou;,4i  Foyle  under  tlie  leading  of  me  Sir  JJ.  Docwra, 
Knight." 

*  Moryson. 


V 


178 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


Mountjoy  received  his  reinforcements  ;  but  aa 
the  troops  of  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  were  now 
collecting  in  great  force,  and  occupied  every  pass 
and  position  north  of  Newry ;  and  as  he  calcu- 
lated that  Docwra  had  by  this  time  effected  his 
landing  in  the  North,  the  deputy  hastily  withdrew 
his  army  towards  the  Pale,  without  having  pene- 
trated even  so  far  as  Armagh.  He  stationed 
however  strong  detachments  in  garrison  at  Newry, 
Carlingford,  and  Dundalk. 

On  the  day  of  the  fight  at  Moyry  Pass,  Doc- 
wra's  fleet  was  lying  at  Culmore,  where  the  river 
Foyle  expands  itself  into  the  broad  "  lake  of  Fe- 
val,  the  son  of  Lodan."  The  troops  disembarked 
and  began  to  build  a  fort  there  ;*  while  the 
O'Doghertys  of  Inishowen  and  O'Cahans  of 
Arachty,  though  fully  able  to  repel  any  invasion, 
such  as  had  ever  been  attempted  before,  were 
totally  unprepared  for  so  vast  an  armament  as' 
this,  and  looked  on  in  astonishment.  Most  of  the 
available  forces  were  beyond  Armagh,  with 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell ;  and  no  resistance  was 
offered  to  the  enemy  until  they  had  finished  their 
fort,  landed  their  whole  army,  taken  Aileach,  a 
castle  of  O'Dogherty's,  and  finally  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  hill  of  Derry,  which 
Docwra  describes  as  "  a  place  in  manner  of  an 
Hand,  comprehending  within  it  forty  acres  of 
ground,  wherein  were  the  mines  of  an  old  abbay, 
of  a  bishopp's  house,  of  two  churches,  and  at  one 
of  the  ends  of  it  an  old  castle,  the  river  called 
Lough  Foyle,  encompassing  it  all  on  one  side, 

*  Docwra's  "Narration." 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neILL.  179 

and  a  bogg  most  commonlie  wett,  and  not  easilie 
passable,  except  in  two  or  three  places,  dividing 
it  from  the  maine  land."  These  ruins  were  the 
remains  of  Randolph's  fortification,  and  of  the 
churches  he  had  turned  into  castles,  and  which 
bad  never  been  repaired  since  his  men  were 
driven  from  that  post  in  Shane  O'Neill's  time. 

Docwra  began  with  energy  to  fortify  the  hill, 
and  lay  out  a  town  there.  He  sent  ships  along 
the  shores  of  Lough  Foyle,  to  pull  down  all 
houses  near  the  beach,  and  bring  away  the  tim- 
ber for  building ;  and  as  there  was  a  fine  wood, 
containing  abundance  of  old  birch  trees,  lying  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  in  O'Cahan's  country, 
he  sent  daily  parties  of  woodcutters,  with  a  guard 
of  soldiers,  to  hew  it  down,  and  "  there  was  not," 
he  says,  "  a  stick  of  it  brought  hom*^  but  was  first 
well  fought  for."* 

When  Mountjoy  had  withdrawn  to  Dublin, 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell,  hearing  of  this  new 
enemy  on  the  Foyle,  once  more  turned  their 
faces  northward,  and  suddenly  appeared  with  five 
thousand  men  before  Derry,  hoping  to  take  it  by 
surprise.  They  attacked  a  party  of  horsemen 
whom  they  found  early  in  the  morning,  patrolling 
outside  the  entrenchments,  drove  them  in  to  the 
foot  sentinels,  and  "  made  a  countenance,"  says 
Docwra,  "  as  if  they  came  to  make  but  that  one 
day's  work  of  it ;  but,  the  alarum  taken,  and  our 
m(3n  in  arms,  tlicy  contented  themselves  to  at- 
tempte  no  further  ;  but  seeking  to  draw  us  forth 
into  the  country,  where  they  hoped  to  take  U8  at 


*  Docwru's  "  Narration. *• 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  0*NEIL1» 


some  advaritages  ;  and  finding  we  stood  upon  the 
defensive  onlie,  after  the  greatest  parte  of  the 
day  spent  in  scrimish,  a  little  without  our  campe, 
they  departed  towards  the  evening,  whither  did 
wee  think  it  not  fitt  to  pursue  them." 

Docwra's  instructions  were,  so  soon  as  he 
should  have  established  himself  in  Derry,  to  de- 
tach one  thousand  foot  and  fifty  horse,  and  send 
them  by  sea  to  Ballyshannon,  under  Sir  Matthew 
Morgan,  to  effect  another  landing  there ;  but  he 
very  soon  found  that  it  would  need  all  the  force 
he  had  to  hold  his  ground  in  Derry.  Morgan's 
expedition  was  therefore  deferred  :  and  although 
Docwra  had,  between  soldiers  and  seamen,  a 
larger  force  than  the  whole  Irish  army  of  Ulster, 
yet  the  garrison  of  Derry  for  several  months  at- 
tempted no  military  operations  in  the  country  : 
they  found  they  must  "  sitt  it  out  all  winter 
and  besides,  Docwra  says,  "  the  country  was  yet 
unknown  to  us  ;  and  those  we  had  to  deal  with 
were  such  as  I  am  sui"e  would  chuse  or  refuse 
to  feight  with  us  as  they  saw  their  own  advan- 
tage." ^ 

But  it  was  not  on  battle-field  that  the  main 
part  of  the  new  Deputy's  work  was  to  be  done. 
Elizabeth's  government  had  now  fully  adopted 
that  policy  which  is  contained  in  the  two  me- 
morable precepts  of  Bacon  :  to  weaken  the  Irish 
by  disunion — and  to  cheat  them  by  a  temporary 
indulgence  of  their  worship.  A  relaxation  of  the 
penal  code  would  at  once,  it  was  hoped,  detach 
the  Anglo-Irish  race  from  O'Neill's  standard,  and 
even  break  the  strongest  bond  of  union  amongst 
the  old  Irish  tribes  themselves  ;  and  with  thM 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


161 


\riew,  Lord  Essex  had  already  begun  to  discou- 
rag'i  prosecutions  in  the  High  Commission  Court, 
had  connived  at  the  illegal  celebration  of  mass, 
and  set  at  liberty  several  priests  then  imprisoned 
for  religion.*  Mountjoy  also,  from  the  day  of 
his  coming  over,  acted  with  similar  forbearance  ; 
and  we  find,  passing  between  this  deputy  and 
Queen  Elizabeth's  council,  a  correspondence  dis- 
playing all  the  liberality,  all  the  tenderness,  for 
Irish  Catholics,  that  a  British  minister  has  never 
failed  to  assume,  when  a  storm  of  Irish  wrath 
was  to  be  weathered,  or  the  hope  of  Irish  nation- 
hood to  be  crushed.  "  Whereas,"  says  the  De- 
puty, "  it  hath  pleased  your  lordships  in  your  last 
letters  to  command  us  to  deal  moderately  in  the 
great  matter  of  religion,  I  had,  before  the  receipt 
of  your  lordship's  letters,  presumed  to  advise 
such  as  dealt  in  it,  for  a  time,  to  hold  a  more  re- 
strained hand  therein."  And  again  :  "  We  should 
be  advised  how  we  do  punish  in  their  bodies  or 
goods  any  such  for  religion  as  do  profess  to  be 
faithful  sul)ject3  to  her  Majestj-,  and  against 
whom  the  contrary  cannot  be  proved."!  Thua 
the  act  of  Uniformity  being  for  a  time  suspended, 
all  the  Irish,  even  in  the  cities,  where  they  had 
Vjeen  compelled  by  pains  and  penalties  to  attend 
upon  the  Queen's  clergy,  (for  they  were  all  Ca- 
tiiolics  still,)  immediately  abandoned  the  re- 
formed churclies,  and  set  the  churchwardens  at 
defiance.;!: 

•  Mac  Gcognegan.  f  Morysoii. 

X  "They  be  all  Papists  by  jirofr-ssion." — Sj^cuser. 
The  zealous  refonufra  ot  that  day  treated  the  vfovern- 


182 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


This  policy,  however,  could  hardly  operate  in 
the  North,  where  the  war  was  national,  not  reli- 
gious ;  and  where  Reformation  and  persecution 
were  still  unknown.  For  the  North,  therefore, 
another  artifice  was  used  :  the  ambition  of  cer- 
tain members  of  ruling  families  was  excited  by 
secret  offers  of  English  support,  if  they  would 

ment  policy  of  temporising  with  what  they  called  "ido- 
latry" much  as  a  similar  policy  has  been  received  by  the 
corresponding  class  in  later  times.  The  illusfarious 
James  Ussher  was  leader  of  that  extreme  section  ;  and 
"his  spirit,"  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Mant,  "was  strongly 
stirred  within  him  by  this  new  condition  of  things.' 
"  He  availed  himself,"  continues  the  bishop,  "  of  a  spe- 
cial solemnity,  when  it  was  in  his  course  to  preach  be- 
fore the  government  at  Christ  Church,  for  delivering  a 
remarkable  sermon,  in  which  he  plainly  expressed  his 
sense  of  the  recent  proceeding  :  choosing  for  his  text  the 
6th  verse  of  the  4th  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  where  the  pro- 
phet, by  lying  on  his  side,  was  to  '  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  house  of  Judah  forty  days  :  I  have  appointed  thee  a 
Anv  for  a  year' — a  prophecy  which  he  noted  to  signify 
the  time  of  forty  years  to  tlic  dnstruction  of  Jerusalem, 
and  that  nation  for  their  idolatry  ;  and  then,  making  di- 
rect application  to  his  own  country,  in  relation  to  its 
connivance  at  Popery,  in  these  impressive  words  :  From 
this  year  will  I  reckon  the  sin  of  Ireland,  that  those 
wliom  you  now  embrace  shall  be  your  ruin,  and  you 
shall  bear  their  iniquity.  This  application  of  the  pro- 
phecy was  made  in  1601,  and  in  1641  broke  out  that 
rebellion  which  was  consummated  in  the  massacre  ot 
many  thousands  of  its  Protestant  inhabitants  by  those 
whose  idolatrous  religion  was  now  connived  at." 

Dr.  Mant  is  a  Christian  bishop,  of  eminent  piety  and 
profound  learning.  He  has  written  an  able,  an  erudite, 
and,  as  the  present  writer  heartily  believes,  an  honest 
book,  upon  the  history  of  Irish  Protestantism ;  yet  thii 
is  the  light  in  which  he,  for  his  part,  views  the  war  o 
^641,  and  the  causes  that  led  to  it. 


1,IFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


183 


revolt  against  their  chiefs,  and  aspire  to  the,  lead- 
ing of  their  respective  septs ;  and,  accordingly, 
in  the  course  of  this  summer  arose  three  preten- 
ders to  northern  chieftaincies.  Niall  O'Donnell, 
surnamed  Garhh,  "the  Rugged/*  one  of  the 
ablest  leaders  of  Clan-Conal,  and  whose  name 
was  distinguished  in  the  Thomond  expedition, 
oasely  sold  himself  to  the  enemy  ;  and  upon  pre- 
tence of  some  injustice  done  him  by  the  O'Don- 
nell, entered  into  communication  with  Docwra, 
gained  over  many  of  the  clansmen  to  his  side,  re- 
volted against  his  lawful  prince,  and  received  an 
English  garrison  into  the  castle  of  Lifford.  In 
Tyr-owen,  Art,  the  son  of  Tirlough  Lynnogh, 
and  who  probably  still  held  his  father's  castle  of 
vStrabane,  became,  by  favour  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, Sir  Arthur  O'Neill,  and  encouraged  by  the 
near  neighbourhood  of  an  English  army,  dared 
to  claim  the  chieftaincy  of  his  sept.  Both  these 
traitors  became  close  allies  of  Sir  Henry  Docwra, 
and  by  their  assistance  he  was  soon  enabled  to 
push  his  operations  somewhat  farther  up  the  river. 
He  built  the  fort  of  Dun-na-long,  six  miles  from 
Derry,  and  stationed  eight  hundred  men  there ; 
while  the  rebellious  Irish  were  wasting  and  plun- 
dering the  country  of  their  kinsmen  on  both  sides 
of  the  Foyle.  On  the  southern  frontier  of  Ul^ 
ster,  also,  Connor  Roe  MacGwire,  having  been 
in  like  manner  tampered  with  by  the  Deputy, 
took  arms  against  his  country  in  the  character  ol 
*'  Queen's  MacGwire." 

It  is  plain  that  these  revolted  Irish  did  not  aid 
the  Queen's  forces  from  any  servile  "  loyalty'*  to 
b  foreign  princess ;  but  rather  accepted  the  prof- 


184 


LIFE    OF  HUGF  0*NE1XL. 


fered  aid  of  Docwra  and  Mountjoy,  to  further, 
as  they  fondly  imagined,  their  own  schemes  vi 
weak  ambition.*  They  were  treated  by  those 
olficerSj/or  the  present,  as  allies  and  independent 
Irish  chiefs — were  addressed  by  them,  for  a  time, 
as  the  O'Neill  and  the  0'Do?inell,-\  and  after- 
wards fared  as  we  shall  see. 

In  Ihlanster,  Sir  George  Carew  was  at  this 
time  shut  up  in  Cork,  as  Docwra  was  in  Derry ; 
and  wrote  to  the  council  in  Dublin  that  he  could 
for  the  present  do  nothing  in  the  field,  with  his 
three  or  four  thousand  men.  "  Yet,"  says  his  se- 
cretary, "  relying  upon  the  justnesse  of  the  warre, 
more  than  upon  the  number  of  his  forces,  he  re- 
solved to  try  the  uttermost  of  his  witt  and  cun- 
ning, without  committing  the  matter  to  the  ha- 
zard of  fortune  and  "  the  President  discern- 
ning  the  warre  in  Mounster  to  be  like  a  monster 
with  many  heads,  or  a  servant  that  must  obey 
divers  masters,  did  thinke  thus  :  that  if  the  heads 
themselves  might  be  set  at  variance  t'.ey  would 
j)rove  the  most  fit  instruments  to  mine  one  ano- 
ther."J 

The  two  most  powerful  leaders  of  the  national 
army  in  Munster  were  James,  Earl  of  Desmond, 
and  Dermot  O'Connor,  who  commanded  fourteen 
hundred  Bonnoghts,  or  mercenary  troops,  con- 

*  Paoata  Hib. 
I  "  Eadenipri'nczpcr^M.s  affectatio  incitavit  Nellum  O'Don. 
nellum,  cognomento  Aspenini,  ut  advcrsus  O'Donnel- 
lum  belli j^erando,  Tirconnellae  excidiuin  afTerrot." — 
O'Sullivav.  He  pronounces  tliem,  as  lie  well  may, 
worse  than  heretics 

+  Pac.  llil 


L.1FE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


185 


sisting  of  northerns  and  Connauglitmen,  as 
O'Neill's  lieutenant  in  the  south.  O'Connor  was 
married  to  a  Geraldine  lady,  daughter  of  the  late 
Earl  Gerald,  and  sister  to  the  present  heir  of 
that  title,  who  was  still  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower, 
while  his  dignity  and  estates  were  usurped  by 
O'Neill's  Desmond.  Here  were  elements  of  in- 
trigue, incentives  and  materials  for  treachery, 
which  English  statesmanship  was  not  long  in 
turning  to  account.  Carew,  "  in  a  very  secret 
manner,  provided  and  sent  a  fit  agent  to  sound 
the  inclination  of  the  Lady  Margaret,  and,  find- 
ing lier  fit  to  be  wrought  upon,  the  conditions 
should  be  propounded — namely,  that  if  her  hus- 
band would  take  Desmond  prisoner,  and  deliver 
him  into  the  hands  of  the  President,  he  should 
incontinently  receive  one  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling ;  and  that  he  should  have  a  company  of  men 
in  pay  from  the  Queene,  and  other  conditions  of 
satisfaction  to  herself  and  her  brother."*  This 

*  Pac.  Hib.  Another  part  of  tlie  preparation  for  this 
villanous  transaction  was  a  letter  written  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  Desmond,  in  whicli  he  pretends  to  treat  witii  tlie 
carl  for  tlie  betrayal  of  Derniot  O'Connor:  tliis  letter 
was  i)laeed  in  O'Connor's  liands  ;  and  he  was  to  pretend 
that  lie  had  intercepted  it,  nud  so  was  ol)li.;j:ed,  in  self 
defence,  to  seize  upon  his  secret  eneniy.  The  letter  was 
as  lolhjws  :  "  iSir,  your  last  letters  I  liave  received,  and 
am  exceedini^  glad  to  see  your  constant  resolution  of  re- 
turrie  to  snhjection,  and  to  leave  the  rebellious  courses 
wherein  you  iiave  long  persevered.  You  may  rest  as- 
sured that  promi  es  shall  bee  kept ;  arid  you  shall  no 
sooner  hrinfj  Di-rmond  ()' (Jonnor  to  we,  nlivn  or  dead, 
and  1  ani.sh  his  Jiownoglis  out  of  ll)e  count  ric,  but  yoti 
shall  have  your  dciiiand  satisfied,  which  I  tliaukc  (iud  I 
am  bolii  «bie  and  willing  to  perlorme.    lieleeve  me,  you 


186 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nF.ILL. 


president's  secretary  and  historian  details  witb 
much  candour,  rather  indeed  as  matter  of  tri- 
umub,  many  other  dark  machinations  of  his  crafty 
mastcx  ;  how  he  suborned  one  Nugent  to  assas- 
sinate his  officer,  John  Fitzgerald,  brother  to  the 
earl ;  how  he  practised  with  Florence  MacCar- 
thy,  and  by  his  means  got  hold  of  O'Sullivar 
More ;  how  showers  of  English  gold,  a  net-work 
of  p]nglisli  intrigue  and  perfidy,  covered  the  land, 
until  the  leaders  of  the  confederacy  in  Munster 
knew  not  whom  to  trust,  or  where  they  were  safe 
from  treason  and  assassination.    Nugent's  story 

liave  no  better  way  to  recover  your  desperate  estate  than 
by  this  good  service,  which  i/ou  have  proffered;  and 
therefore  I  cannot  but  commend  your  judgment  in  choos- 
ing the  same  to  redeeme  your  former  faults :  and  I  do 
the  ratlier  beleeve  the  performance  of  it  by  your  late  ac- 
tion touching  Loghguire,  wherein  your  brother  and 
yourself  have  well  merited  ;  and,  as  I  promised,  you 
shall  find  mee  so  just  as  no  creature  living  shall  ever 
know  (hat  either  of  you  did  assent  to  the  surrender  of  it. 
^  All  your  letters  I  have  received,  as  also  the  joint  letter 
Irom  your  brother  and  yourselfe.  I  pray  lose  no  time, 
lof  delays  i-i  great  actions  are  subject  to  many  dangers. 
Now  chat  the  Queen's  armie  is  in  the  field,  you  may 
worke  your  determination  with  most  securitie,  being 
ready  to  releeve  you  upon  a  day's  warning.  So  praying 
God  to  assist  you  in  this  meritorious  enterprize,  I  doe 
leave  you  to  his  protection  this  twentie  ninthe  of  May, 
I  GOO. 

There  might  be  some  difficulty  in  believing  that  the 
English  commanders  in  Munster  resorted  to  these  base 
tricks,  unknown  to  all  honourable  warfare  ;  but  that  the 
authority  for  it  is  Carew  himself,  writing  under  the 
name  of  his  secretary  Stafford.  He  describes  the  wliole 
plot  minutely,  and  publishes  the  letter  "  to  manifest  the 
invention." 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


187 


may  serve  as  an  example  of  this  policy  of  Carew, 
and  is  told  with  much  coolness  by  his  secretary : 
*'  Nugent  came  to  make  his  sulDmission  to  the 
President,  and  to  desire  pardon  for  his  faults 
ommitted  ;  answer  w^as  made,  that  for  so  much 
16  his  crimes  and  offences  had  been  extraordi- 
nary, he  could  not  hope  to  be  reconciled  unto  the 
state,  except  he  would  deserve  it  by  extraordi- 
nary service,  which,  saith  the  President,  if  you 
shall  perform  you  may  deserve  not  only  pardon 
for  your  faults  committed  heretofore,  but  also 
some  store  of  crownes  to  releeve  your  wantes 
hereafter.  Hee  presently  promised  not  to  be 
wanting  in  any  thing  that  lay  in  the  power  of  one 
man  to  accomplish,  and  in  private  made  offer  to 
the  president,  that  if  hee  might  bee  well  recom- 
pensed, hee  would  ruine  within  a  short  space 
either  the  Sugan  earle,  or  John  Fitzthomas,  his 
brother.  And  indeed  very  likely  he  was  both  to 
attempte  and  perform  as  much  as  he  spake — to 
attempte,  because  he  was  so  valiant  and  daring, 
as  that  he  did  not  feare  anything  ;  and  to  execute, 
because  by  reason  of  his  many  outrages  before 
committed,  the  cheefe  rebels  did  repose  great 
confidence  in  him.  The  President  having  con- 
trived a  plot  for  James  Fitzthomas,  (as  is  before 
shewed,*)  gave  him  in  charge  to  undertake  John, 
his  brother."  vShortly  after  the  secretary  conti- 
nues :  "  Whilst  these  things  were  in  handling, 
Nugent  (whose  promises  to  the  President  before 

•  He  alludes  to  the  plot  formed  with  Dcrmot  O'Con- 
nor's wife. 


188 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


we  recited)  intending  no  longer  to  deferre  tbc 
enterprize,  attempted  the  execution  in  this  sort. 
The  President  being  past  Loughgwire,  John 
Fitzthomas  riding  forth  of  the  iland  towards  the 
fastness  of  Arloghe,  where  most  of  his  men  re- 
mained, with  one  other  called  John  Coppinger, 
whom  he  (Nugent)  had  acquainted  with  the  en- 
terprise, and,  as  he  thought,  made  sure  to  him, 
lie  attended  this  great  captaine,  and  being  now 
passed  a  certain  distance  from  all  companie,  per- 
mitted John  Fitzthomas  to  ride  a  little  before 
him,  minding,  (his  backe  being  turned,)  to  shoote 
him  through  with  his  pistoll,  which  for  the  pur- 
pose was  well  charged  witli  two  bullets :  the  op- 
portunitie  oifered,  the  pistoll  bent,  both  heart  and 
hand  ready  to  doe  the  deed,  when  Coppinger,  at 
the  instant,  snatched  the  pistoll  from  him,  crying 
treason;  wherewith  John  Fitzthomas,  turning 
himself  about,  perceived  his  intent.  Nugent, 
thinking  to  escape  by  the  goodnesse  of  his  horse, 
spurred  hard  :  the  horse  stumbled,  and  hee  taken, 
and  the  next  day  after  examination  and  confes- 
sion of  his  intent,  hanged.  This  plot,  although 
it  attained  not  fully  the  desired  successe,  yet  it 
proved  to  be  of  great  consequence  ;  for  now  was 
John  Fitzthomas  possessed  with  such  a  jealous 
suspicion  of  everyone,  tliat  he  durst  not  remaine 
long  at  Loughgwire,  for  feare  of  some  otlier  like 
attempte." 

D<  rmot  O'Connor,  the  traitor  who  undertook 
to  betray  Desmond,  succeeded  somewhat  better 
He  took  an  opportunity  to  arrest  him  and  confine 
him  in  Castlelishin  ;  but  would  not  give  him  up 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


)89 


uo  the  President  until  he  should  first  be  paid  a 
thousand  pounds.*  His  wife,  the  Lady  Marga- 
ret, was  to  meet  Carew  at  Kilmallock,  and  re- 
ceive the  money ;  but  before  the«e  pecuniary 
matters  could  be  fully  arranged  Desmond  was 
rescued  by  his  kinsmen  and  Pierce  Lacy  of  the 
B  rough.  Carew,  however,  was  not  deterred  by 
one  failure.  "  There  was  no  man  of  account," 
says  his  secretary,  "  in  all  Mounster  whom  the 
President  had  not  oftentimes  laboured  about  the 
taking  of  the  reputed  earl,  promising  very  boun- 
tiful and  liberal  rewards  to  all,  or  any  such  as 
would  draw  such  a  draught,  whereby  he  might 
be  gotten,  alive  or  dead."  At  last  the  White 
Knight,  a  Geraldine,  and  kinsman  of  his  own, 
was  fortunate  enough  to  draw  the  successful 
draught,  delivered  up  the  earl  in  safety  to  Carew, 
and  received  his  thousand  pounds.f  The  unfor- 
tunate "  Suggawn  earl"  was  confined  in  Shandon 
castle  for  a  time,  and  tlien  forwarded  to  London, ' 
where  he  died  in  the  Tower. 

O'Neill,  who  was  kept  fully  employed  in  Ul- 
ster by  Mountjoy,  began  to  perceive  that  the  na- 
tional party  in  the  vSouth  was  fast  breaking  up. 
The  religious  toleration  (though  fcr  a  time  not 
definite)  by  removing  the  common  terror  of  per- 
secution, had  allowed  the  ancient  national  animo- 
sities to  revive ;  and  the  nobles  of  Anglo-Nor- 
man descent  were  plainly  not  to  be  counted  upon 
as  faithful  to  the  cause  of  Irisli  nationhood.|  On 


*  Pac.  Hib.  t  Phc.  Ilib. 

X  "Of  one  tiling  I  thinkc  good  to  give  you  particular 
notice,  whieh  is,  not  to  put  any  confidence  in  any  ol 


190 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL.. 


Florence  Mac  Carthy,  whom  he  had  made  chief 
of  Clan-Carrha,  seems  to  have  been  placed 
O'Neill's  greatest  reliance  : — "  Our  commenda- 
tions to  you,  Mac  Carthy  More,"  thus  he  writes 
to  Florence,  "  I  send  shortly  unto  you  according 
,0  our  trust  of  you,  that  you  will  doe  a  stout  and 
hopefull  thing  against  the  pagan  beast ;  and  there- 
upon our  armie  is  to  goe  into  Mounster.  *  * 
And  since  this  cause  of  Mounster  was  left  to  you 
(next  under  God)  let  no  weakeness  or  imbecilli- 
tie  bee  found  in  you;  and  the  time  of  help  is 
neere  you  and  all  the  reste.  From  Donganon, 
the  sixth  of  February,  1601. 

"  O'Neill." 

But  Mac  Carthy  More's  wife  was  a]  so  tre- 
panned into  the  English  interest.  "  She  refused," 
says  Stafford,  "  to  come  to  his  bed  until  he  had 
reconciled  himself  unto  her  Majestic."  This  lady 
was  a  daughter  of  the  former  Earl  of  Clancarty; 
and  "  she  knew,"  she  said,  "in  what  manner  her 
father  had  that  earldome  from  her  highnesse  ;  and 
though  she  be  not  pleased  to  bestow  the  same 
wholly  upon  her,  yet  she  doubted  not  to  obtain 
some  part  thereof ;  but  if  neither  of  these  could 
be  gotten,  yet  was  not  she  minded  to  goe  a  beg- 
ging either  unto  Ulster,  nor  into  Spaine."*  And 

we  soon  find  this  chief  trafficking  and  bargain- 
ing with  the  President,  until  Carew,  having  made 

♦  Pac.  Hib. 

Mounster,  of  the  EngHsh  nation :  for  wLaisoever  they 
professe  or  protest  unto  you,  they  meane  not  to  deale 
faithfully  witli  us,  but  will  forsake  us  in  our  greatest 
need."    Letter  of  Cormac  Carly  to  O'Neill.    Pac,  Hib, 


LIFE   OF   HUGH  o'nKILL. 


191 


use  of  him  so  far  as  lie  could,  at  length  seized 
his  person,  had  an  accusation  of  high  treason 
preferred  against  him,  and  sent  him  a  prisoner 
to  England,  along  with  the  Earl  of  Desmond.* 

Carew  having  thus  "  tried  the  uttermost  of  his 
witt  and  cunning"  to  set  at  variance  the  heads  of 
the  southern  confederacy,  and  so  to  destroy  them 
by  each  other's  means  ;  and  besides,  being  stea- 
dily supported  throughout  by  the  Lords  Clan- 
rickarde,  Thomond,  Barry,  and  other  Anglo- 
Irish  families,  was  soon  enabled  to  overrun  all 
Desmond,  and  to  reduce,  by  force  or  treachery, 
the  castles  of  Askeaton,  Glynn,  Carrig-a-foyle, 
Ardart,  Liscaghan,  Loughgwire,  and  many 
others,  everywhere  driving  off  the  cattle,  and 
burning  the  houses  and  corn  stacks  ;  so  that  by 
the  month  of  December  there  was  not  one  castle 
in  all  Munster  held  against  the  queen  ;  nor,  in 
the  language  of  Moryson,  "  any  company  of  ten 
rebels  together." 

During  the  summer  of  1600  Mountjoy  himself 
had  traversed  Leix  and  O'Fally,  with  a  nume- 
rous army,  burning  the  country,  until  the  23d  of 
August.  He  had  the  good  fortune  to  kill  O'More, 
of  Leix,  in  a  skirmish,  and,  after  cutting  down  all 

*Pac.Hib.  Moryson.  Carew  had  strict  commands  from 
his  government  to  get  Elorence  into  his  hands  ;  "  which," 
he  says,  "  without  some  temporising  could  not  yet  con- 
veniently he  performed."  He  therefore  wrote  to  him  to 
Bay,  that  the  "state  was  well  persuaded  of  his  loyaltie 
and  innocencie,"  and  requested  him  earnestly  to  visit 
him,  that  he  might  have  his  advice  ahout  afi'airsof  state. 
But  all  this  was  in  vain  until  the  lady  was  taken  into  the 
plot. 


192 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


the  green  corn  of  the  district,  returned  to  Dablin. 
His  biographer  calculates  that  in  this  expedition 
he  destroyed  ten  thousand  pounds  worth  of  corn  ; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  by  the  usual  contri- 
vances, he  detached  some  Leinster  chiefs  from 
the  cause  of  Ireland,  and  introduced  treachery 
and  distrust  into  their  councils. 

O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  now  fully  understood 
the  nature  of  the  contest  in  which  they  were  to 
be  engag«ed  with  this  new  Deputy.  Fraud,  per- 
fidy, and  assassination  were  to  take  the  place  of 
open  battle ;  the  chink  of  gold  was  to  be  heard, 
instead  of  clashing  steel ;  and  the  swords  of  these 
false  Saxons  were  to  be  turned  into  sickles,  to 
prostrate  the  unripe  grain,  and  so  to  war  against 
women  and  children  as  well  as  fighting  men. 
But  the  northern  chiefs  had  still  a  gallant  army 
at  their  backs,  and  were  yet  able  to  keep  the 
English  garrisons  imprisoned  within  their  walls 
and  moats.  They  were  in  daily  expectation  of 
succour  from  King  Philip,  and  hoped  full  soon  to 
out  asunder  the  meshes  of  this  traitor  policy  witll 
their  good  swords. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL.  193 


CHAPTEE  XIY. 

THE   WAE  IN  TTIiSTEK — THE   SPANIARDS   AT  KIN* 
SALE — DEFEAT  OF  o'NETLL  AND  o'DONNELIi. 

A.  D.  1600—1601. 

The  powerful  garrison  of  Derry,  vrith.  the  forts 
of  Culmore,  Dun-na-long,  and  Lifford,  all  in  the 
hands  of  the  English,  and  the  revolted  Niall 
Garb  O'Donnell,  with  his  adherents,  gave  abun- 
dant employment  to  the  chieftain  of  Tyr-Connell, 
and  effectually  prevented  him  from  joining 
O'Neill,  with  all  the  powers  of  his  clan,  as  he 
had  formerly  been  wont  to  do.  Early  this  year, 
haviag  defeated  Dockwra,  in  a  severe  skirmish 
near  Derry,  and  left  a  part  of  his  force  to  watch 
the  motions  of  that  officer,  the  fiery  chief  him- 
self suddenly  turned  his  fa(;e  southward,  tra- 
versed Connauglit  rapidly  and  silently,  and  once 
more  swept  all  Thomond,  from  Corcomroe  to 
Lioop-liead,  covering  with  wreck  and  ruin  the 
wide  domains  of  tliat  degenerate  Daloassian  who 
styled  himself  Earl  of  Thomond.*  Ho  had 
hardly  driven  of!"  the  spoil  to  Tyrconnell,  before 
he  learned  that  treachery  and  corruption  were 

*  O'Suliivau.    Tuc.  iiibornia. 

N 


194 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


doing  their  work  in  Inishowen,  the  northernmost 
corner  of  his  territory.  The  O'Dogherty  was 
dead,  and  many  of  that  clan  had  declared  for 
Docwra,  who  was  supporting  a  pretender  to  the 
chieftaincy  of  Inishowen,  in  opposition  to  the 
rightful  claimant.  O'Donnell  flew  to  Inishowen, 
but  before  he  could  do  any  thing  effectual  there 
he  learned  that  the  revolted  Niall  Garbh,  with 
the  help  of  a  body  of  English,  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  Franciscan  monastery  of  Donegal, 
driven  out  the  friars,  and  fortified  the  buildings. 
Red  Hugh  instantly  marched  to  Donegal ;  and 
laid  siege  to  the  abbey  ;  three  months  he  sat  be- 
fore it ;  and  at  last,  the  buildings  having  taken 
fire  by  night,  the  garrison  were  obliged  to  fly 
from  the  raging  flames  and  crashing  roofs,  upon 
the  swords  of  their  not  less  furious  besiegers. 
Hundreds  of  the  English  troops  and  revolted  Irish 
perished  in  the  fire  or  the  battle,  (amongst  others. 
Conn  O'Donnell,  brother  of  Niall  Garbh,)  and 
in  the  morning  Red  Hugh  found  himself  master 
of  the  smoking  and  blackened  ruins  of  that  beau- 
tiful and  illustrious  abbey.* 

To  guard  the  southern  frontier  of  Ulster  was 
Hugh  O'Neill's  own  peculiar  care,  and  all  the 
efforts  of  the  Deputy  were  bent  to  penetrate  that 
frontier  by  way  of  Dundalk  and  Armagh.  On 
the  1 5th  of  September,  he  encamped  at  Faug- 
hart,  three  miles  north  of  Dundalk,  with  an 

*  This  abbey  was  never  repaired  ;  and  its  rifted  walla 
and  fast-decayino^  arches,  the  once-famous  library  and 
cloisters  of  the  Four  Masters,  are  now  a  grey  and  lonely 
ruin,  at  the  head  of  the  lovely  bay  of  Donegal. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


195 


army  of  2,400  foot  and  300  horse,*  intending  so 
soon  as  tlie  weather  would  permit,  to  make  a 
grand  attempt  npon  ihe  Moyry  Pass.  O'Neill 
had  the  pass  entrenched,  fortified  with  palisades, 
and  strongly  manned, f  and  was  waiting  patiently 
in  the  woods  for  the  approach  of  Mountjoy.  At 
last  on  the  9th  of  October  the  English  army  ad- 
vanced, and  after  some  severe  fighting  and  heav)' 
loss  on  both  sides,  Mountjoy  forced  his  way 
through.  He  then  cut  down  the  woods  and 
cleared  the  country  all  round  that  difiicult  pass 
and  made  his  way  to  Newry.  His  chief  objed 
was  to  regain  Armagh  ;  and  on  the  2nd  of  No- 
vember he  marched  from  Newry  about  eight 
miles  to  the  north-west ;  and  then  finding  the 
country  that  lay  between  him  and  Armagh  too 
difficult  and  too  well  guarded  by  O'Neill,  to  be 
attempted  in  that  season,  he  determined  to  build 
a  fort  on  the  place  where  he  then  was,  being  the 
very  entrance  of  the  dangerous  Moyry  Pass,  so 
as  to  secure  the  ground  he  had  won,  and  effec- 
tually open  up  that  way  into  Ulster  for  the 
English  armies.  This  work  was  not  effected 
without  daily  alarms  from  O'Neill's  men  ;  but, 
at  length  the  fort  was  built.  The  Deputy  called 
it  Mount  Norris,  in  honour  of  Sir  John  Norreys, 
bis  former  master  in  the  art  of  war,  left  400  men 
Under  Captain  Blaney,  to  garrison  it,  and  re- 
tired to  Newry  on  his  way  to  the  Pale.jl 

Before  leaving  Ulster,  MnDuntjoy  solemnly  made 
proclamation  of  a  great  reward  for  the  head  of 
O'Neill — two  thousand  pounds  to  the  man  who 


Mor>'ftOD. 


f  Camden. 


X  Moryson, 


196 


LIFE   OF   HUGH  O^NEILL. 


should  bring  in  that  "  arch-rebel"  alive — one 
thousand  for  his  dead  body ;  and  then  the  De- 
puty marched  by  Fatham  and  Carlinjjford  to- 
wards Dundalk.  At  the  "Pass  of  Carlingford,'* 
however,  (probably  at  Glenmore  or  Riverstown,) 
O'Neill  was  upon  him  again.  A  bloody  battle 
ensued.  Mountjoy  himself,  Sir  Henry  Danvers, 
and  many  other  officers  were  severely  wounded,* 
and  with  heavy  loss  the  English  made  good  their 
way  to  Dundalk.  Mountjoy  proceeded  to  Dublin 
and  made  no  further  attempt  upon  the  North 
that  year,  the  sole  achievement  of  the  campaign 
being  the  stationing  of  Blaney's  garrison  upon 
the  Moyry,  Armagh,  Portmore,  and  all  the 
open  country  north  of  Newry  were  still  in  the 
hands  of  the  Irish. 

That  winter  was  spent  by  Mountjoy  in  vain 
efforts  to  crush  or  capture  the  gallant  Tyrrell, 
wlio  still  held  a  great  part  of  Meath  for  O'Neill. 
The  Deputy  marched  to  Trim  and  Athlone, 
burning  and  wasting  the  country  on  all  sides, 
and  having  offered  large  rewards  for  Tyrrell's 
head,  returned  to  Dublin.']' 

The  following  spring  saw  the  indefatigable 
Deputy  once  more  at  the  Moyry.  On  the  8th 
of  June,  he  led  his  army  through  the  pass,  and, 
having  erected  soine  additional  works  at  the 
"  Three-mile-water,"  proceeded  to  Newry  ;  then 
harried  Iveagh,  the  country  of  Mac  Gennis,  took 
Downpatrick,  and  returned  to  Newry  on  the 
21st.  A  powerful  force  under  Sir  Henry  Dan- 
gers, was  then  detached  and  sent  against  Armagh. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


191 


mih  orders  to  take  possession  of  the  city,  and 
abbey,  and  garrison  them  for  the  queen.  O'Neill, 
however,  had  all  the  passes  manned,  and  gave 
Danvers  such  a  reception  that  he  was  fain  to 
take  shelter  behind  the  works  of  Mount  Norris, 
and  wait  there  till  the  Deputy  joined  him.* 
When  Mountjoy  came  up,  the  English  army  ad- 
vanced northward  in  force  ;  and  O'Neill  after 
some  skirmishing  in  the  woods,  retired  before 
the  enemy  and  fell  back  upon  the  Blackwater, 
resolving  to  give  them  battle  on  the  banks 
of  that  illustrious  river.  Mountjoy,  however, 
had  no  intention  of  penetrating  farther  for  that 
time  ;  he  contented  himself  with  making  a  mi- 
nute survey  of  the  battle-ground  of  Beal-an- 
atha-huidhe,  where  the  blood  of  Sir  Henry 
Bagnal  and  many  a  gallant  Englishman  had 
*'  manured  the  reeking  sod"  three  years  before  ; 
spent  a  considerable  time,  one  can  hardly  tell 
with  what  object,*]'  in  examining  the  various  po- 
sitions around  that  memorable  plain,  and  on  the 
southern  bank  of  the  Black  water  (which  the 
English,  says  O' Sullivan,  called  Black  by  reason 
of  their  many  defeats  sustained  there,)  then  di- 

•  Moryson. 

f  Unless  it  were  that  this  "bookish"  general  desired 
to  funcy  liirnself  a  second  Germanicus,  and  to  imitate 
that  leader  when  he  jjenetrated  the  woods  of  north  Ger- 
many, and  discovered  the  spot  where  Arminius  had  de- 
stroyed the  VariiUi  legions,  on  the  banks  of  tlie  Elbe. 
There  were  indeed  some  points  of  resemblance — "Medic 
campi  albetitia  ossa,  ut  fn<Jierant,  ut  restiterant,  dis- 
jecta vel  ag^^erata :  adjacebaj\t  fra^Miiina  teloruirj,  equo- 
runjque  artus" — "hie  cecidii^e  legatos:  illicraptas  aqui« 
las;  priminn  ubi  vulnus  Varo  adactum,"  &e. 


198 


LIFE   OF   HUGH  O'NEILL. 


rected  his  march  upon  Armagh,  which  waa 
iibandoned  by  the  Irish  on  his  approach  ;  sta- 
tioned there  750  foot  and  100  horse  under  Dan- 
vers,  and  returned  by  Mount  Norris  to  Newry. 

Shortly  after,  Mountjoy  advanced  again  to 
^the  Blackwater,  made  himself  master  of  the  dis- 
mantled fortress  of  Portmore,  repaired  it,  and 
stationed  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  there,  un- 
der Captain  Williams,  the  ancient  defender  of 
that  dangerous  post.  The  several  garrisons  now 
occupying  northern  forts  (exclusive  of  Dockwra's 
large  army  in  the  north-west),  are  thus  stated 
by  an  English  historian.  In  Newry  there  were 
four  hundred  foot  and  fifty  horse,  under  Sir 
Francis  Stafford  ;  in  Lecale  (Down)  three  hun- 
dred foot,  under  Sir  Richard  Moryson,  brother 
to  the  Deputy's  secretary  and  historiographer;  Sir 
Arthur  Chichester  held  Carrickfergus,  with  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  foot  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  horse  ;  in  Mountnorris  were  six  hundred  foot 
and  fifty  horse,  commanded  by  Sir  Samuel  Bagnal ; 
eight  hundred  foot  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  horse,  under  Danvers,  garrisoned  Armagh  ; 
and  Williams,  with  three  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
kent  Portmore.  These  strong  parties,  entrenched 
behind  their  fortifications,  abundantly  supplied 
with  artillery,  ammunition,  and  provisions,  were 
well  able  to  withstand  any  attacks  of  the  impe- 
tuous, but  unskilful  and  impatient  Irish,  and 
occasionally  sallying  into  the  country,  burned 
the  houses,  drove  off  the  cattle,  cut  down  and 
trampled  the  corn,  cleared  passages  through  the 


1.IFE   OF   HUGH  o'neILi.. 


woods,  and  betook  themselves  to  their  strong 
places  again,  when  threatened  by  a  superior 
force. 

Next  to  establishing  these  garrisons,  Mount- 
joy's  care  was  to  cut  away  and  clear  the  woods 
which  encumbered  all  the  passes  lying  betweer 
Newry  and  the  Blackwater,  so  as  to  secure  a 
better  passage  for  his  troops.  In  this  dangerous 
service  he  employed  a  great  part  of  his  army  for 
many  days  ;  and  on  the  24th  of  August,  having 
strengthened  and  revictualled  the  forts  of  Port- 
more  and  Armagh,  he  once  more  withdrew 
towards  the  Pale. 

O'Neill  was  continually  in  the  field,  flying 
from  place  to  place,  cutting  off  the  English  work- 
ing parties  in  the  woods,  and  bands  of  their  cruel 
reapers  in  the  corn-fields  ;  often  his  fierce  war- 
cry  scared  the  builders  from  tlieir  unfinished 
walls  :  and  often,  with  rout  and  havoc,  the  bri- 
gand forayers  of  P>ngland  were  pursued  by  his 
avenging  sword  home  to  their  very  entrench- 
ments.* Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  English 
arms  and  Englisli  policy  were  at  length  making 
some  way  in  this  northern  land.  Ten  thousand 
British  troops  upon  the  soil  of  Ulster — nume- 
rous garrisons  and  castler  on  both  the  Eoyle 
and  Blackwater — the  sleepless  energy,  masterly 
dispositions,  and  hateful  policy  of  Lord  Moun- 
joy,  had  indeed  begun  to  tell ;  and  darkness 
on(;e  more  s(;emed  to  brood  over  the  cause  of  old 
Ireland.   Still,  the  cause  could  not  seem  hopeless* 


200 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


to  the  Ulster  chieftains.  The  Spaniard,  they 
trusted,  was  even  then  off  Cape  Clear ;  or  if  no 
help  from  King  Philip,  the  ancient  standard  of 
the  Bloody  PTp.nd  still  floated  free  over  the  hills 
of  Tyr-owen  |  the  proud  river-frontier  of  the 
Blackwater  -was  still  inviolate. 

'Spanish  negotiators  had  been  with  O'Neill  and 
0' Oonnell  for  some  months.  Matthew  of  Oviedo, 
the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  made  a  visit  to  the 
North  to  confer  with  the  chiefs,  and  afterwards 
set  sail  for  Spain  to  hasten  the  embarkation ;  and 
it  was  now  well  known  both  to  friend  and  foe 
that  a  powerful  armament  had  been  prepared  in 
the  ports  of  Spain,  and  was  under  orders  for 
Ireland.  In  August  came  a  letter  from  Sir 
Kobert  Cecil,  the  English  Secretary  of  State,  to 
Sir  George  Carew,  apprising  him  "  that  certaine 
pinnaces  of  her  Majestie's  had  met  with  a  fleete 
of  Spaniards,  to  the  number  of  fiftie  sale,  whereof 
seventeene  were  men  of  warre,  the  rest  trans- 
porting ships :"  they  had  been  descried  at  the 
Scilly  islands,  "  and  could  not  bee,"  said  Sit 
Eobert,  "  but  for  Ireland."* 

On  the  twenty-third  day  of  September,  Lord 
Mountjoy  and  the  President  Carew  were  sitting 
in  council  in  Kilkenny,  with  the  Earl  of  Or- 
mond.  Sir  Pichard  Wingfield,  Marshal  of  the 
Queen's  army,  and  Sir  Pobert  Gardiner,  tn*^ 
Chief  Justice,  J'  advising  what  course  should  be 
taken  if  the  Spaniards  should  lande."  Suddenly 
a  letter  arrived  from  Sir  Charles  Wihuot,  then 


Pac.  Hib. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH   O  NEIIX. 


commanding  in  Cork,  to  announce  that  a  fleet 
had  been  seen  off  the  harbour  of  Cork  ;  and 
again,  before  their  council  broke  up,  another 
hasty  messenger  from  Wihnot  brought  news  that 
the  Spaniards  were  at  anchor  in  the  harbour  of 
Kinsale.  Instantly  couriers  were  despatched  by 
Lord.  Mountjoy  through  Leinster  and  the  North, 
to  draw  together  most  of  the  troops  scattered  in 
various  garrisons,  and  concentrate  the  whole 
English  force  upon  Munster.  Letters  were  sent 
to  Sir  Charles  Wilmot  with  instructions,  and 
despatches  to  England  with  urgent  demand  of 
new  reinforcements. 

The  Spanish  fleet  when  it  w^eighed  anchor 
from  the  Tagus  mouth,  consisted  of  forty  five  small 
vessels,  carrying  about  six  thousand  men.  Of 
their  ships,  only  seventeen  carried  guns ;  eleven 
of  these  were  small,  and  only  six  of  the  class 
called  Galleons,  the  St.  Paul,  the  St.  Peter,  the 
St.  Andrew,  and  three  others  whose  namss  are 
not  given.  The  troop-ships  were  mostly  of  one 
hundred  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  burthen  ; 
and  fifteen  hundred  Biscayan  sailors  manned  the 
whole  fleet.*  Even  this  force  was  much  shattered 
and  diminished  by  a  storm,  which  drove  a  squa- 
dron of  their  ships  asliore  at  Coruna  ;  and  by  the 
time  they  landed  in  Kinsale,  there  were  but  three 
thousand  four  hundred  soldiers,  and  many  of 
tr)o?e  Besognies  who  had  never  handled  arms  ;| 

•  Those  particulars  are  contained  in  an  official  state- 
iiietii,  rfcnt  by  Sir  U(jl;ert  Cecil'.s  correspondent  in  Lis- 
bon, ami  transmitted  by  Oecil  to  the  Lord  Jfresideut  

Pac.  Hib. 

fPac.  H'A 


202 


UFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


SO  that  on  the  whole,  it  was  a  much  smaller  ar* 
mament  than  O'Neill  had  reason  to  expect,  infe- 
rior both  in  numbers  and  strength  even  to  Sir 
Henry  Dockwra's  fleet  and  army  in  Lough  Foyle, 
and  wholly  inadequate  to  the  important  service 
it  was  destined  for. 

What  was  even  worse  than  this,  Don  Juan 
D'Aguila,  the  general  to  whom  Philip  had  en- 
trusted the  command,  seems  to  have  been  unequal 
to  such  an  enterprize.  He  had  commanded  a 
Spanish  force  in  Bretagne  in  1594,  and  is  charged 
with  having  tamely  allovred  the  French  and  En- 
glish to  capture  Morlaix  and  Quimper,  without 
an  effort  to  relieve  them  ;  and  at  Crodon,  a  fort 
which  defended  the  mouth  of  Brest  harbour, 
after  exposing  a  brave  garrison  to  destruction 
through  his  incompetence  and  cowardice,  he 
yielded  that  most  important  position  which  he 
had  ample  means  to  defend  ;* — a  mournful  omen 
for  unhappy  Ireland. 

Immediately  on  disembarking,  Don  Juan  sent 
inessengers  to  the  two  northern  princes  advising 

*  Matthew  O'Conor  {Military  Memoirs  of  the  Irish  Na- 
tion^ gives  this  story  at  lengtli,  out  of  Davila.  He  also 
i^ensures  Don  Juan  severely  for  landing  in  Munster,  in- 
stead of  making  for  some  northern  or  v.  extern  port ;  but 
this  charge  is  not  well  founded.  It  was  evidently  with 
the  concurrence  of  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  that  a  southern 
port  was  selected.  The  Irish  chiefs  were  probably  them- 
selves deceived  as  to  the  strength  of  their  party  in  the 
south,  and  the  faithfulness  of  their  allies.  O'Neill  relied 
much  upon  the  Clan  Carrha  and  Florence  Mac  Carthy, 
and  could  hardly  anticipate  that  so  powerful  a  confede. 
rac}  would  be  dissolved  so  soon  by  mere  fraud,  treachery, 
-ind  bribery,  without  a  blow  struck. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


203 


them  of  his  arrival,  and  requesting  them  to  come 
and  join  him  without  delay ;  and  in  the  mean 
time  the  Spaniards  marched  into  Kinsale  with 
five  and  twenty  colours  flying ;  the  English  gar- 
rison retired  to  Cork  ;  and  the  sovereign  of  the 
town  threw  open  the  gates,  went  to  meet  the 
strangers,  and  proceeded  to  billet  them  ;  "  more 
ready"  says  Stafford,  "  than  if  they  had  been  the 
queene's  forces."  To  set  the  town's  people  at 
ease,  Don  Juan  issued  the  following  proclama- 
tion. "  Wee  Don  Juan  De  Aguila,  General!  of 
the  Armie  to  Philip  king  of  Spaine,  by  these 
presents  doe  promise  that  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  towne  of  Kinsale  shall  receive  no  injury  by 
any  of  our  retinew,  but  rather  shall  be  used  as 
our  brethren  and  friends,  and  that  it  shall  be  law- 
ful for  any  ol  the  inhabitants  that  list  to  trans- 
port, without  any  molestation  in  body  or  goods, 
and  as  much  as  shall  remain,  likewise  without  any 
hurt.  Signed  Don  Juan  De  Aguila."*  He  then 
took  possession  of  the  forts  which  protected  the 
entrance  of  Kinsale  harbour,  called  Rincorran,f 
and  Castle-ne-parke ;  fortified  and  garrisoned 
them,  and  expected  to  be  immediately  joined  in 
great  force  by  the  Irish  of  all  the  surrounding 
country. 

But  national  feeling  had  nearly  gone  out  of 
Munster.  All  the  Anglo-Irish  lords,  and  most 
of  the  ancient  Irish  had  made  their  submission 
to  the  President:  the  chiefs  and  leaders  were 

•  Pac.  Hib. 

f  A  aajlhe  blade.  It  was  built  on  a  tongue  of  land 
resembling  a  scythe  in  eliape. 


204 


LIFE  OF  HUGU  O'jS'EILl.. 


either  corrupted  by  English  gold,  or  intimidatedj 
or  disgusted  by  the  treachery  of  their  allies,  or 
imprisoned  in  the  dungeons  of  London.  In 
truth,  O'Neill's  noble  effort  to  make  a  nation  oui 
of  the  miserable  materials  which  Munster  afforded 
him  to  work  with,  was  a  total  failure.  National 
honour,  religious  zeal,  even  thirst  for  ven- 
geance, was  dead  amongst  them  : — one  is  forced 
to  believe  that  these  southern  Irish,  "  were 
pigeon-livered,  and  lacked  gall,  to  make  oppres- 
sion bitter ;"  the  chivalrous  Spaniards  began 
to  conceive  a  boundless  contempt  for  them; — 
they  thought,  for  their  parts,  that  "  Christ  had 
never  died"  for  such  a  people  as  this. 

Of  all  the  Munster  Irish,  only  0' Sullivan 
Beare,  O'Connor  Kerry,  and  O'Driscol,  declared 
openly  for  Ireland  and  King  Philip ;  Carew  and 
MouPitjoy  were  marching  upon  Kinsale,  with  all 
their  forces :  three  thousand  one  hundred  fresh 
troop?  arrived  from  England  ;  a  fleet  of  ten  ships 
of  war,  under  admiral  Sir  Richard  Leviston, 
appeared  upon  the  coast,  and  disembarked  two 
thousand  r„iOre  at  Cork ;  all  the  towns  of  Mun- 
Bter,  whe;i  called  upon  by  Carew,  contributed 
'A'jth  alaciity  their  quotas  to  the  queen's  forces.* 
the  earls  of  Thomond,  and  Clanrickarde,  with 
their  numerous  Irish  following,  lifted  their  ban- 

•  Dr.  Curry,  strangely  enough,  notes  this  circum- 
stauce  as  a  TOi3r«V  in  tlie  Irish  towns.  He  says,  "  It  ia 
vrorthy  of  notice  that  all  tlie  cities  and  towns  in  the 
^cmgdom  through  cliiefly  inhabited  by  the  Catholic  na- 
nves,  coritiaaed  loyal  to  the  queen  during  this  war." — 
Review  of  the  Civil  Wars.  Nearly  two-thirds  of  MouQt 
joy's  army  consisted  of  Irishmen. 


JblhE   OF   HUGH  o'NEILuL. 


205 


uers  on  the  sume  side ;  and  in  the  month  of 
November,  the  Deputy  and  President  sat  down 
before  Kinsale.  commanding  a  mixed  English  and 
Irish  army,  fifteen  thousand  strong. 

News  of  the  Spanish  landing  soon  reached 
Ulster;  and  suddenly,  with  one  consent  all  mi- 
litary operations  were  suspended  on  both  sides  ; — 
siege  and  foray,  fori^ifying  and  ambuscading,  all 
stood  still ;  every  eye  turned  to  Munster  ;  every 
nerve  was  braced  for  the  trial  of  this  mighty 
issue  at  Kinsale.  Don  Juan's  messengers  found 
Red  Hugh  O'Donneil  besieging  his  own  noble 
castle  of  Donegal,  which  bad  been  in  his  absence, 
csurprized  by  the  "  queen's  O'Donneil,"  Niall 
Garbh,  and  his  Saxon  allies.  Without  one 
lioai-'s  delay,  he  arose  with  all  his  clan,  left  the 
castle  to  its  fate  for  that  time  and  marched  into 
Connaught.  At  Ballymote  he  halted,  and  sum- 
moned all  his  tributaries  and  adherents  to  attend 
him  there,  and  range  themselves  under  the  stan- 
dard of  Tyrconnell.  From  Inishowen  and  Kil- 
macrenan, — from  Breffni  and  Sligo,  Hy  Fiachra, 
Hy  Maine  and  Coolavin,  the  clans  came  trooping ; 
— O'Ruarcs  and  Mac  Swynes,  O'Dogherty's, 
O'Boyles,  Mac  Donoughs,  Mac  Dermot.s,  O'Con- 
nors, O'Kellys,  and  many  another  warlike  north- 
-Kesiern  tribe;  and  on  tiie  second  of  November, 
he  set  forth  for  Munster  at  the  head  of  two  thoi> 
sand  five  hundred  men. 

O'Neill  instantly  drew  off  his  forces  from  the 
petty  skirmishing  upon  the  Jjlackwater  ;  sent  to 
Antrim  foi-  ihe  Mac  Donnells,  to  Down  for  Mac 
Gennis  and  Mac  Artane,  and  was  speedily  on  his 
rm\rcn  southward  with  between  three  and  four 


'206 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL.. 


thousand  troops.  O'Donnell  and  he  were  to  have 
met  at  Holy-Cross  in  Ormond ;  and  the  army  of 
Tyrconnell  being  first  at  the  rendezvous,  en- 
camped in  a  place  where  they  were  protected  on 
all  sides  by  woods  and  bogs.*  The  Deputy  now 
detached  Carew  with  a  strong  force  against 
O'Donnell,  hoping  to  engage  him  before  O'Neill 
should  come  up.  Red  Hugh  was  not  prepared 
to  give  battle  ;  and  he  soon  found  that  he  must 
either  retreat  northwards  again  and  abandon  the 
Spaniards,  or  make  a  forced  march  over  the 
mountains  of  Slieve  Felim,  which  lay  between 
him  and  Limerick.  There  had  lately  been  heavy 
rains  ;  and  the  mountains  were  so  wet  and  boggy, 
that  no  horses  or  carriages  could  pass.  The  Pre- 
sident and  his  army  lay  at  Cashel,  and  thought 
they  had  effectually  checked  O'Donnell's  ad- 
vance ;  when,  one  night,  a  sharp  frost  occurred, 
which  he  knew  would  harden  the  surface  of 
the  earth  and  make  the  mountains  passable  for 
a  time.  So  soon  as  darkness  came  on,  the  whole 
Irish  army  suddenly  arose,  traversed  the  rugged 
country  all  that  night,  and  by  day-break  wei-e 
more  than  twenty  miles  from  Holy  Cross.  Cii- 
rew  made  great  exertions  to  intercept  him  be- 
fore he  should  reach  Kinsale  ;  but  in  vain.  He 
^eems  to  have  been  amazed  at  the  expedition  of 
"  this  light-footed  generall ;"  and  computes  that 
one  day's  march  from  O'Magher's  country  to 
Crome,"  at  above  two  and  thirty  Irish  miles, 
the  greatest  march,  with  carriage,"  he  says, 

•  "  A  strong  fastnesse  of  bogg  and  wood,  which  was 
on  every  quarter  plashed."— Pac.  Hib. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'NEILL. 


207 


"  that  hath  been  heard  of."*  O'Donnell  then 
made  a  circuit  to  the  westward,  marclied  through 
Muskerry,  to  stir  up  the  southern  clans,  and  ar- 
rived at  Castlehaven  in  time  to  form  a  junction 
v/ith  seven  hundred  Spaniards,  who  had  arrived 
in  that  port  and  were  destined  to  reinforce 
D'Aguila  in  Kinsale.j 

Many  of  the  Irish  of  West  Munster  who  had 
been  hitherto  inactive,  when  they  saw  the  north- 
ern forces,  and  heard  of  the  new  landing  of  Spa- 
niards, at  length  bestirred  themselves.  Donogh 
O'Driscol  at  once  received  a  Spanish  garrison 
into  his  castle  of  Castlehaven  which  commanded 
that  harbour  ;  Sir  Finnan  O'Driscol  admitted  a 
hundred  and  twenty  Spaniards  into  his  castles  of 
Donneshed  at  Baltimore,  and  Donnelong  on  Inis- 
herkan  island,  which  between  them  completely 
defended  the  harbour  of  Baltimore  ;  and  Donal 
O' Sullivan  received  two  hundred  Spanish  auxi- 
liaries under  his  command,  declared  for  Ireland 
and  King  Philip,  and  manned  and  strengthened 
his  castle  of  Dun-buidhe  situated  on  Beare-haven. 

Jn  the  mean  time  Lord  Mountjoy  and  Carew 
were  vigorously  pressing  the  siege  of  Kinsale. 
Cannon  were  planted  against  the  castle  of  Rin- 
corran  ;  and  after  an  obstinate  defence,  it  was  at 

•  Pac.  Tlib. 

f  Tlie  transport  sliips  wliich  liad  carried  this  reinforce 
nient  were  attacked  by  the  English  fleet,  under  Levis 
ton,  in  the  harbour  of  Castleliaven,  and  after  a  shar|i 
fiU'lit,  some  of  tliem  were  taken  or  sunk,  lint  tlic  Spa- 
nish  batteries  from  the  shore  lian.dled  the  Enf,dish  ships 
BO  rouf^lily  tliat  the  admiral's  own  ship  was  riddled 
"through  liulke,  ina.stc.  and  ta(;kle,"  and  returucd  luucb 
hhftttered  to  Kinsale — Pcx:.  Ilib. 


208 


I.1FE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


length  yielded,  and  its  garrison  taken  prisoners 
and  sent  to  Cork.  When  the  royal  fleet  arrived 
under  Admiral  Leviston,  they  began  to  batter 
Castle-ne-parke  from  their  ships ;  but  at  first 
without  success.  A  few  days  after,  however,  this 
out-work  was  also  taken,  its  defenders  having  ren- 
dered it  up  on  promise  of  their  lives  :  and  then 
Don  Juan  was  confined  entirely  to  the  walls  of 
Kinsale.  It  was  resolved  by  the  English  com- 
manders in  a  council  of  war  not  to  attempt  mak- 
ing a  breach  until  they  should  first  have  destroyed 
the  houses  in  the  town  by  bombardment ;  and 
with  this  view  the  trenches  were  drawn  closer ; 
cannon  were  placed  in  various  positions  near  the 
walls,  and  a  tremendous  fire  kept  up  for  several 
days.  A  trumpeter  was  then  sent  to  summon  the 
place  to  surrender,  who  was  not  suffered  to  enter 
the  town,  but  received  his  answer  at  the  gate  : — 
*'  Don  Juan  held  that  town,  first  for  Christ,  and 
then  for  tlie  King  of  Spain,  and  so  would  defend 
it  against  all  their  enemies."  Once  more  the 
English  artillery  thundered  upon  the  walls.  Se- 
veral desperate  sorties  were  made  by  the  Spa- 
niards, and  many  men  were  killed  on  both  sides. 
The  English  pressed  the  siege  with  greater  vi- 
gour than  ever,  because  they  had  intelligence  that 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  had  at  length  formed  a 
junction,  and  were  approaching  Kinsale  from  the 
north-eastern  quarter  upon  the  left  bank  of  Ban- 
don  river,  and  on  the  19th  of  December  the  van- 
guard of  O'Neill's  army,  were  seen  upon  a  hill 
about  a  mile  distant  from  Mountjoy's  camp. 

By  desperate  exertions  O'Neill  had  collecteij 
nearly  four  thousand  men,  had  fought  his  way 


t»in5  OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


2m 


through  West  Meath,  and,  joined  by  the  indefa- 
tigable Tyrrell,  had  traversed  Leinster  and  Or- 
inond  by  forced  marches.  At  Bandon  he  met 
with  O'Donnell  and  the  Spaniards  who  had  land- 
ed in  Castlehavcn ;  and  now  at  length  he  found 
himself  on  the  scene  of  action,  and  beheld  the 
beleagured  town  of  Kinsale,  and  the  powerful 
fleet  and  army  which  invested  it  by  sea  and  land. 
On  the  21st  O'Neill  so  disposed  the  Irish  forces 
as  to  cut  off  all  communication  between  Mountjoy 
and  that  part  of  the  country  from  whence  he  was 
accustomed  to  receive  his  supplies.  The  whole 
force  under  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  amounted  to 
no  more  than  six  thousand  foot  and  five  hundred 
horse,*  and  with  so  small  an  army  O'Neill  had 
no  intention  of  immediately  risking  a  general  en- 
gagement. The  English  army  was  fast  weaken- 
ing by  sickness  and  desertion  :  the  soldiers  of 
Irish  race  were  leaving  Mountjoy's  ranks  by 
troops ;  the  Spaniards  were  still  strong  in  Kin- 
sale  ;  and  he  hoped  that  the  severity  of  the  sea- 
son, aided  by  privation  and  continual  skirmishing 
would  soon  so  waste  and  wear  down  the  enemy 
that  he  might  choose  his  own  time  for  falling 
upon  them  and  finishing  their  ruin.  O'Donnell, 
indeed^  with  liis  usual  impetuosity,  burned  to  let 
loose  the  Clan-Connl  upon  Mountjoy's  camp;  but 
yielding  to  liis  more  experienced  ally  he  re* 
strained  himself  and  acquiesced  in  the  more  cau- 
tious j)olicy. 

'*  Our  artillery,"  says  Stafford,  "  still  played 
CJpon  the  towne  (as  it  had  done  all  that  while] 


•  Pac  Uib 


210 


LIFE  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


that  they  might  see  wee  went  on  with  our  busi- 
nesse  as  if  wee  cared  not  for  Tyrone's  comming  : 
but  it  was  vvithall  carried  on  in  such  a  fashion  as 
we  had  no  meaning  to  make  a  breach,  because 
we  thought  it  not  fit  to  offer  to  enter,  and  so  put 
all  in  a  hazard  untill  we  might  better  discover 
what  Tyrone  meant  to  doe,  whose  strength  was 
ttssured  to  bee  very  great ;  and  we  found  by  let- 
ters of  Don  John's  (which  wee  had  newly  inter- 
cepted) that  hee  had  advis«^d  Tyrone  to  sett  upon 
our  campes,  telling  him  that  it  could  not  bee 
chosen,  but  our  men  were  much  decayed  by  the 
winter's  siege,  and  so  that  wee  could  hardly  bee 
able  to  maintain  so  much  ground  (as  wee  had 
taken)  when  our  strength  was  greater,  if  wee 
were  well  put  to,  on  the  one  side  by  them,  and 
on  the  other  side  by  him,  which  hee  would  not 
faile  for  his  parte  to  doe  soundly."* 

Such  was  indeed  Don  Juan's  counsel ;  but 
O'Neill  was  resolved  to  let  Kinsale  and  the  Spa- 
niards bear  the  brunt  of  the  siege  a  little  longer  ; 
to  rest  and  refresh  his  troops  after  their  severe 
marching  ;  and  to  persist  in  his  policy  of  besieg- 
ing the  besiegers  in  their  own  entrenchments, 
until  circumstances  should  arise  to  make  a  change 
of  plan  advisable,! 

The  Irish,  however,  had  been  but  three  days 
before  Kinsale,  when  an  accident  brought  on  a 
general  engagement,  before  there  was  time  to 
c  oncert  measures  with  the  Spaniards  in  the  town. 
It  is  far  from  being  clearly  explained  how  this 
battle  of  Kinsale  came  to  be  fought,  without  pre* 


Fac.  Hib, 


t  Moryson. 


LIFE  OP  HUGH  O  NEILL. 


211 


meditation  as  it  seems  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
manders on  either  side  :*  but,  before  dawn  in 
the  morning  of  the  24th,  Sir  Richard  Graham, 
who  commanded  that  night  the  guard  of  horse, 
sent  word  to  the  Deputy  that  the  scouts  had  dis- 
covered the  matches  of  the  Irishj  flashing  in  great 
numbers  through  the  darkness,  and  that  O'Neill 
must  be  approaching  the  camp  in  force.  In- 
stantly the  troops  were  called  to  arms:  messen- 
gers were  dispatched  to  the  Earl  of  Thomond's 
quarter  with  orders  to  draw  out  his  men.  The 
Deputy  now  advanced  to  meet  the  Irish  whom 
he  supposed  to  be  stealing  upon  his  camp :  and 
seems  to  have  effectually  surprised  them,  while 
endeavouring  to  prevent  a  surprise  upon  himself. 
The  infantry  of  O'Neill's  army  retired  slowly 
about  a  mile  farther  from  the  town,  and  made  a 
stand  on  the  banks  of  a  ford  where  their  position 

•  The  author  of  the  Pacata  Hihernia  says  that  Brian 
Mac  Hugh  Oge  Mac  Mahon,  one  of  O'Neill's  trusted  of- 
ficers, entered  into  communication  with  Carew  on  the 
previous  day ;  that  he  cautioned  him  to  be  on  his  guard 
the  following  night ;  for  that  it  had  been  determined  in 
the  Irish  council  of  war,  where  he  was  present,  that  on 
the  next  night,  shortly  before  day-break,  a  simultaneous 
attack  should  be  made  upon  the  English  camp  by  the 
Spaniards  in  front,  and  by  the  Irish  army  in  the  rere ; 
that  this  Mac  Mahon  was  induced  to  give  the  informa- 
tion because  his  son  had  once  been  brouglit  up  in  Ca- 
rew's  family  as  a  page ;  and  that  the  attack  was  made, 
or  about  to  be  made,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  warn- 
ing, liiit  in  fact  the  Spaniards  did  not  sally  from  i\i<? 
walls  at  all  during  the  battle,  and  hardly  seem  to  hava 
been  aware  of  it  until  all  was  over,  which  could  uothavg 
been  the  case  if  it  had  been  brought  on  by  previous  con* 
cert. 

t  The  fire-arms  of  that  peric^d  were  matchlocka. 


212 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


was  strengthened  by  a  bog  in  flank.  Wingficld, 
the  Marshal,  thought  he  saw  some  confusion  in 
their  ranks,  and  entreated  the  Deputy  that  he 
might  be  allowed  to  charge.  The  Earl  of  Clan- 
rickarde  joined  the  Marshal,  and  the  battle  be- 
came general ;  but  O'Neill's  cavalry  repeatedly 
drove  back  both  Wingfield  and  Clanrickarde, 
until  Sir  Henry  Danvers,  with  Captains  TaatFe 
and  Fleming  came  up  to  their  assistance  ;  when 
at  length  the  Irish  infantry  fell  into  confusion 
and  fled.  Another  body  of  them,  commanded 
by  Tyrrell  was  still  unbroken,  and  long  main- 
tained its  ground  upon  a  hill ;  but  at  length  see- 
ing their  comrades  routed,  they  also  gave  way 
and  retreated  in  good  order  after  their  main 
body.  The  northern  cavalry  covered  the  retreat ; 
and  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell,  by  amazing  personal 
exertions,  succeeded  in  preserving  order  and  pre- 
venting it  from  becoming  a  total  rout. 

The  Spaniards  who  had  joined  O'Donnell  at 
Castlehaven,  refused  to  leave  the  ground,  and  were 
nearly  all  cut  to  pieces ;  their  commander,  Del 
Campo,  was  taken  prisoner  with  two  of  his  officers, 
and  about  forty  soldiers  :  but  the  Irish  troops 
although  to  them  no  quarter  was  given,*  retired 
with  comparatively  little  loss.  According  to 
Carew's  statement  there  were,  of  the  Irish  army, 
twelve  hundred  killed  and  eight  hundred  wounded; 

*  The  most  merciless  of  all  Mountjoy's  army  that  day 
was  the  Anglo-Irish  and  Catholic  Earl  of  Clanrickarde. 
He  slew  twenty  of  the  Irish  with  his  own  hand,  and  cried 
a'loud  to  spare  no  "rebels."  Carew  says  that  *'  no  man 
did  bloody  liis  swDrd  more  than  his  lordship  that  day." 
I'ac.  Hih. 


JLIFE   OP  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


213 


?,nd  of  his  own,  but  six  or  seven  persons  in  all ; 
a  disparity  which  in  itself  proves  that  O'Neill's 
troops  were  taken  by  surprise  and  had  not  in- 
tended to  fight  that  day.  But  it  avails  little  to 
plead  surprise  in  excuse  for  a  lost  battle  : — the 
battle  tvas  lost :  the  Irish  camp  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy  :  their  plans  were  completely  de- 
ranged, and  most  of  their  colours,  arms,  and  bag- 
gage captured.  It  was  now  the--  depth  of  winter, 
and  too  late  to  prepare  for  a  new  campaign  that 
year :  and  O'Neill  was  reluctantly  compelled  to 
order  a  retreat  to  the  North,  leaving  Kinsale  and 
Don  Juan  to  their  fate. 

On  the  last  day  of  December  Don  Juan  s;cnt 
Mountjoy  proposals  for  a  capitulation  ;*  obtained 
honourable  terms  ;  agreed  to  surrender  all  the 
castles  upon  the  coast  into  which  Spanish  garri- 
sons had  been  admitted,  and  shortly  after  set 
sail  for  Spain  ;  carrying  with  him  all  his  artillery, 
treasure  and  military  stores. 

O'Neill  and  the  remainder  of  his  army  set  out 
on  their  homeward    march  ;    but   Red  Hugh 

*  In  his  negotiations  with  Mountjoy  Don  Juan  affects 
to  speak  most  contemptuously  of  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell, 
and  tlie  wlmle  Irish  nation ;  but  if  he  had  better  knowa 
the  country,  lie  would  have  been  aware  that  the  exer- 
tions of  the  northern  chiefs  to  relieve  hitn,  when  shut 
up  in  Kinsale,  at  such  a  distance  from  Ulster,  were  al- 
most superliuman.  Besides,  he  ought  to  have  remem- 
bered tin;  terms  of  the  rcfjuisition  upon  which  the  Spa- 
niards (•aiiie  to  Ireland  — "  Jf  the  aides  were  sent  to  Ul- 
ster, tlien  'J  yroiie  retvuired  but  lower  or  five  thousand 
nien  :  if  the  kiuf^  did  j)ur{)ose  to  send  an  army  into 
Mfjunster,  then  he  Hhr)uld  send  strongly,  i(ra?/.se  neither 
Tvrone  nor  O'JJonnell  could  come  to  help  (heii." — fee 
Hib.  p.  46(3. 


214 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL 


O'Donnell,  stung  to  madness  by  defeat,  indign£n«; 
at  the  conduct  of  this  most  ill-judged  enterprise, 
and  impatient  of  King  Philip's  dilatory  councils 
and  petty  expeditions,  gave  the  command  of  his 
clan  to  his  brother  Roderick  ;  and  three  days 
after  the  battle,  flung  himself  into  a  Spanish  ship 
et  Castlehaven,  and,  attended  by  Redmond  Burke, 
Hugh  Mostian,  and  seven  other  Irish  gentlemen, 
set  sail  for  Spain.  He  disembarked  at  Coruna, 
was  received  with  high  distinction,  by  the  Mar- 
quis of  Cara9ena  and  other  nobles,  "  who  ever- 
more gave  O'Donnell  the  right  hand ;  which, 
within  his  government,"  says  Carew,  "  he  would 
not  have  done  to  the  greatest  duke  in  Spaine.** 
He  travelled  through  Gallicia,  and  at  Santiago 
de  Compostella  was  royally  entertained  by  the 
archbishop  and  citizens  ;  but  in  bull-fighting,  or 
the  stately  Alameda,  he  had  small  pleasure. 
"With  teeth  set  and  heart  on  fire,  the  chief- 
tain hurried  on,  traversed  the  mountains  of  Ga- 
licia  and  Leon,  and  drew  not  bridle  until  he 
reached  Zamora,  where  Philip  was  then  hold- 
ing his  court.  With  passionate  zeal  he  pleaded 
his  country's  cause ;  entreated  that  a  greater 
fleet  and  stronger  army  might  be  sent  to  Ire- 
land without  delay,  unless  his  Catholic  Ma- 
jesty desired  to  see  his  ancient  Milesian  kinsman 
and  allies  utterly  destroyed  and  trodden  into 
earth  by  the  tyrant  Elizabeth ;  and  above  all 
whatever  was  to  be  done  he  prayed  it  might  be 
done  instantly,  while  O'Neill  still  held  his  army 
on  foot,  and* his  banner  flying;  while  it  was  not 
yet  too  late  to  rescue  poor  Erin  from  the  deadly 
fangs  of  those  dogs  of  England,    The  king  ro- 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NELLL. 


21i 


ceived  him  affectionately,  treated  him  with  high 
consideration,  and  actually  gave  orders  for  a 
powerful  force  to  be  drawn  together  at  Coruna, 
for  another  descent  upon  Ireland.  ^ 

But  that  armament  never  sailed;  and  poor 
O'Donnell  never  saw  Ireland  more;  for  news 
arrived  in  Spain,  a  few  months  after,  that  Dun- 
buidhe  castle,  the  last  strong-hold  in  Munster 
that  held  out  for  King  Philip,  was  taken;  and 
Beare-haven,  the  last  harbour  in  the  South  that 
was  open  to  his  ships,  effectually  guarded  by  the 
Enghsh:  and  the  Spanish  preparations  were 
countermanded :  and  Red  Hugh  was  once  more 
on  his  joui'ney  to  the  court,  to  renew  his  almost 
hopeless  suit;  and  had  arrived  at  Simancas,  two 
leagues  from  Valladolid,  when  he  suddenly  fell 
sick;  his  gallant  heart  was  broken,  and  he  died 
there,  on  the  10th  of  September,  1602.  He  was 
buried  by  order  of  the  king,  royal  honours, 
as  befitted  a  prince  of  the  Kmel-Conal;  and  the 
stately  city  of  Valladolid,  holds  the  bones  of  as 
noble  a  chief  and  as  stout  a  warrior  as  ever  bore 
the  wand  of  chieftaincy,  or  led  a  clan  to  battle. 


»  Pac.  Hib. 


216  UFE  OF  HUGb  OftKilX. 


OHAPTER  XV. 

FIRE,  FAMINE,  AND  SLAUGHTER  o'nEILL  AT 

MELLIFONT. 

A.  D.  1602—1603. 

After  another  severe  winter  journey,  O'Neill 
gained  his  own  territory  ;  he  knew  that  he  might 
shortly  expect  Mountjoy  once  more  at  the  Black- 
water  ;  and  employed  the  interval  in  disposing 
his  men,  so  as  best  to  guard  the  passes  of  the 
woods,  and  preparing  for  this  last  fierce  struggle  ; 
for  he  determined  to  dispute  every  foot  of  ground, 
and  to  sell  life  and  land  dear. 

Mountjoy  spent  that  spring  in  Munster,  with 
the  President,  reducing  those  fortresses  which 
still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Irish,  and 
fiercely  crushing  down  every  vestige  of  the  na- 
tional war.  Richard  Tyrrell,  however,  still  kept 
the  field  ;  and  O' Sullivan  Beare  held  his  strong 
castle  of  Dun-buidhe,  which  he  wrested  from  the 
Spaniards  after  Don  Juan  had  stipulated  to  yield 
it  to  the  enemy.*    This  castle  commanded  Ban- 

•  "  Among  other  places,  which  were  neither  yielded 
nor  taken  to  the  end  they  should  be  delivered  to  the 
English,  Don  Juan  tied  liimself  to  deliver  my  castle  and 
haven,  the  only  key  of  juine  inK-»ritaace,  Thereupon 


^LIIE  or  HUGH  u'nEILL. 


217 


try  Bay,  and  was  one  of  the  most  important  for- 
tresses in  Munster ;  and  therefore  Carew  deter- 
mined, at  whatever  cost,  to  make  himself  master 
of  it.  Dun-buidhe  was  but  a  square  tower,  with 
a  court-yard  and  some  out-works,  and  had  but 
140  men ;  yet  it  was  so  strongly  situated,  and  so 
bravely  defended,  that  it  held  the  Lord  President 
and  an  army  of  four  thousand  men,  with  a  great 
train  of  artillery  and  some  ships  of  war,  fifteen 
days  before  its  walls.  After  a  breach  was  made, 
the  storming  parties  were  twice  driven  back  to 
their  lines ;  and  even  after  the  great  hall  of  the 
castle  was  carried,  the  garrison,  under  their  in- 
domitable commander,  Mac  Geohegan,  held  their 
ground  in  the  vaults  underneath  for  a  whole  day, 
and  at  last  fairly  beat  the  besiegers  out  of  the 
hall.  The  English  cannon  then  played  furiously 
upon  the  walls ;  and  the  president  swore  to  bury 
these  obstinate  Irish  under  the  ruins.  Again  a 
desperate  sortie  was  made  by  forty  men — they 
were  all  slain  :  eight  of  them  leaped  into  the  sea 
to  save  themselves  by  swimming  ;  but  Carew, 
anticipating  this,  had  stationed  Captain  Harvey, 
"  with  three  boats  to  keepe  the  sea,  who  had  the 
killing  of  them  all  ;"  and  at  last,  after  Mac  Geo- 
hegan was  mortally  wounded,  the  remnant  of  thtJ 
garrison  laid  down  their  arms.  Mac  Geohegan 
lay.  bleeding  to  death,  on  the  floou  of  the  vault ; 

the  liviiifj  of  many  tlioiisanrl  persons  doth  rest,  tliat  live 
Borno  twenty  iciif^ues  upon  the  sea-coast,  into  the  lianda 
of  my  cruell,  cursed,  mishelievint^  enemies. "--Jxitter 
of  l>)nal  O'SuUivan  Beare  to  the  King  of  ypain.  Ptic. 


218 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'neiLL. 


yet  when  he  saw  the  besiegers  admitted,  he  raised 
himself  up,  snatched  a  lighted  torch,  and  stag- 
gered to  an  open  powder-barrel — one  moment, 
and  the  castle,  with  all  it  contained,  would  have 
rushed  skyward  in  a  pyramid  of  flame,  when 
suddenly  an  English  soldier  seized  him  in  his 
arms  :  he  was  killed  on  the  spot,  and  all  the  rest 
were  shortly  after  executed.  "  The  whole  num- 
ber of  the  ward,"  says  Carew,  "  consisted  of  one 
hundred  and  forty-three  selected  men,  being  the 
best  choice  of  all  their  forces,  of  which  not  one 
man  escaped,  but  were  either  slain,  executed,  or 
buried  in  the  ruins  ;  and  so  obstinate  a  de- 
fence hath  not  been  seen  within  this  kingdom." 
Perhaps  some  will  think  that  the  survivors  of 
so  brave  a  band  deserved  a  better  fate  than 
hanging. 

But  we  must  leave  this  ferocious  Carew  and 
his  willing  assistants,  Wilmot  and  Harvey,  to 
their  terrible  vocation.  Space  would  fail  us  to 
recount  what  castles  they  took,  what  priests  they 
hanged :  how  they  laid  waste  the  lands,  and  de- 
stroyed the  corn,  and  covered  Munster  with  ashes 
and  blood,  and  smoking  ruins.*  The  war  had 
once  more  rolled  northward 

*  O'Sullivan  and  Tyrrell  still  kept  the  field,  and  made 
tliemselves  masters  of  some  castles.  They  were  encou-> 
raged  by  Owen  Mac  Egan,  the  apostolic  vicar  ;  by  let- 
ters from  O'Neill,  and  the  hope  of  O'Donnell's  return 
with  help  from  Spain.  But  when  news  came  of  O'Don. 
uell's  death,  O'Sullivan,  with  four  hundred  men,  set  out 
for  the  north,  intending  to  take  refuge  with  O'Neill. 
They  crossed  the  Shannon  in  corraghs,  covered  with  the 
hides  of  their  own  horses,  fought  their  way  through,  the 
hostile  country  of  Thomond  and  Clanrickarae,  and  at 


LIFB  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL.  219 


Early  in  June  Lord  Mountjoy  i»arched  by 
Dundalk  to  Armagh,  and  from  thence,  without 
interruption,  to  the  banks  of  the  Blackwater, 
about  five  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Portmore,  and 
nearer  to  Louo;h  Neagh.*  He  sent  Sir  Richard 
Moryson  to  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  com- 
menced the  building  of  a  bridge  at  that  point, 
and  a  castle,  which  he  named  Charl«mont,  from 
his  own  Christian  name,  and  stationed  a  garrison 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  there,  under  the 
command  of  a  certain  Captain  Toby  Caulfield.f 

The  Deputy  then  led  his  whole  army  across 
the  river,  and  set  out  on  his  march  for  Dungan- 
non  ;  but  long  before  he  reached  it  he  could 
plainly  see  both  town  and  castle  on  fire.  O'Neill 
found  himself  unable  to  cope  with  his  enemy  in 
the  field ;  and,  as  he  had  once  before  done,  when 
threatened  by  Sir  John  Norreys,  burned  his  cas- 
tle to  the  ground,  and  betook  himself  to  the  fo- 
rests and  mountains  which  occupied  the  centre  of 
his  territory.j: 

There  is  a  wide  tract  of  moor  and  mountain,  ex- 
tending from  the  Foyle  near  Strabane,  in  a  south- 
easterly direction  to  the  shores  of  Lough  Neagb, 
where  it  ends  in  the  broad-backed  Slieve  Gallen. 
It  thus  intersects  the  wn.'.Jc  district  of  ancient  Tyr- 

len^'th,  reduced  to  tliirty-fivo  men,  tliey  found  shelter  it 
Leitrim  castle. 
•  Moryson. 

t  The  founder  of  a  noble  family,  wliich  has  held  that 
ipot  froin  that  day  to  this  ;  but  which  afterwards  (as  ia 
nsual  with  settlers  in  Ireland)  becftme  more  Irish  than 
many  of  the  IrisJi  Uioniselves. 

X  Morywii. 


220 


LIFE   OF   KtIGH  O'NEILL. 


owen,  and  covers  a  large  area  which  is  now  included 
in  the  two  modern  counties  of  Tyrone  and  Lon- 
donderry. To  this  tract,  and  the  eastern  part  ot 
Arachty  lying  on  the  lower  Bann,  O'Neill  was 
now  confined  :  hard  pressed  on  the  w^est  and 
north-west  by  Sir  Henry  Docwra  and  his  own 
traitor  kinsman  ;  cut  olF  by  their  chain  of  posts 
(which  they  had  lately  pushed  southward  as  far 
as  Omagh)  from  all  communication  with  Tyr- 
connell ;  enclosed  on  the  Antrim  side  by  Sir 
Arthur  Chichester  and  his  powerful  forces  ;  and 
on  the  south,  blockaded  by  Mountjoy  and  his 
numerous  garrisons,  and  his  thrice-accursed 
Queen's  Maguires  and  Queen's  O'Reilly's — he 
yet  maintained  himself  at  Castle  Roe ;  corres- 
ponded with  the  national  chiefs  throughout  the 
island,  had  his  agents  in  Munster  and  Con- 
naught,  held  still  aloft  his  noble  Red  Right 
Hand,  and  defied  both  the  arms  and  the  trea- 
chery of  Elizabeth's  crafty  deputy.  It  is  now 
that  Mountjoy  writes  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council 
in  England,  excusing  himself  for  "  that  notwith- 
standing her  Majesty's  great  forces,  O'Neill 
doth  still  live,"  describing,  and  even  exaggerating 
the  difficulties  of  the  country,  and  complaining 
that  gold  and  treachery  had  not  yet  been  so 
potent  in  the  North  as  they  had  been  found  ia 
Munster.  The  proclamations  of  high  reward  for 
O'Neill's  head,  it  seems,  had  not  tempted  any  of 
his  clansmen  or  allies  to  assassinate  him,  as  was 
expected  :  and  Mountjoy  cannot  conceal  his  sur- 
prise. "  It  is  most  sure"  says  he,  "  that  never 
traytor  knew  better  how  to  keep  his  own  head 
than  this;  nor  any  subjects  have  a  more  dreadful 


LIFE  OP  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


221 


awe  to  lay  violent  hands  on  their  sacred  prince, 
than  these  people  have  to  touch  the  person  of 
their  O'Neales ; — and  he  that  hath  as  pestilent 
a  judgement  as  ever  any  had,  to  nourish  and  to 
spreade  his  ovvne  infection,  hath  the  ancient 
swelling  and  desire  of  liberty  in  a  conquered 
nation  to  work  upon,"  &c.* 

The  deputy  finished  his  fort  and  bridge  of 
Charlemont,  and  even  built  and  garrisoned  ano- 
ther on  the  shores  of  Lough  Neagh,  which  he 
called  Mountjoy;  and  after  he  had  left  garrisons 
in  these  he  sent  another  party  to  take  possession 
of  Augher,  so  that  his  posts  now  communicated 
with  those  of  Docwra,  and  completely  encircled 
O'Neill,  both  on  the  west  and  south. 

He  then  sent  orders  to  Sir  Henry  Docwra,  Sir 
Arthur  Chichester,  and  Sir  Richard  Moryson, 
that  they  should  all  be  in  readiness  within  twenty 
days  to  penetrate  O'Neill's  country  at  once  by 
different  routes  ;  and  in  the  mean  time,  upon  the 
19th  of  July,  he  marched  westward  to  Monaghan 
and  Fermanagh,  left  some  troops  there  under  St. 
Lawrence,  Esmond,  and  Conor  Roe  Mac  Gwire, 
wasted  and  burned  the  country,  and  returned  to 
co-operate  in  the  grand  combined  effort  against 
central  Ulster. 

It  was  high  summer ;  the  fertile  valleys  of 
Tyr-owen  were  waving  with  green  corn,  and  tlie 
creaghts  abounded  upon  a  thousand  hills;  wlien  the 
armies  of  the  stranger  were  let  loose  upon  that 
doomed  land  ;  and  never,  since  first  a  sword  was 
drawn  upon  this  earth,  did  such  a  storm  of  demo- 
niac wrath  and  unheard  of  atrocity  burst  upon  a 

*  Se-f  flii8  letter  in  the  Appendix. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 

nation.  Xot  the  heathen  Danes  in  their  most 
frightful  excesses ; — not  the  ferocious  Tartar  of 
Ghizni,  when  he  swept  over  the  plains  of  India 
like  Azrael  the  Death-angel ; — not  the  bastard 
Norman  when  he  fell  upon  North-Humber-land 
in  his  wrath,  and  left  no  man  or  beast  alive  from 
Tyne  to  Humber — ever  spread  abroad  ruin  and 
wreck  so  unsparing,  so  systematic,  as  this  viceroy 
of  the  queen  of  England  visited  upon  the  ancient 
territory  of  the  Hy  Nial. 

Chichester  marched  from  Carrickfergus,  and 
crossed  the  Bann  at  Toome  :  Docwra  and  his 
Derry  troops  advanced  by  way  of  Dungiven ; 
and  Mountjoy  himself  by  Dungannon  and  Kil- 
letrough  :* — and  wide  over  the  pleasant  fields  of 
Ulster  trooped  their  bands  of  ill-omened,  red- 
coated  reapers,  assiduous  in  cutting  that  saddest 
of  all  recorded  harvests.  Morning  after  morning 
the  sun  rose  bright  and  the  birds  made  music,  as 
they  are  wont  to  do  of  a  summer's  morning  "  on 
the  fair  hills  of  holy  Ireland  — and  forth  went 
the  labourers  by  troops,  with  their  fatal  sickles 
in  their  hands  ;  and  some  cut  down  the  grain, 
and  trampled  it  into  the  earth,  and  left  it  rotting 
there ;  and  some  drove  away  the  cattle,  and 
either  slaughtered  them  in  herds,  leaving  their 
carcases  to  breed  pestilence  and  death,  or  drove 
them  for  a  spoil  to  the  southward ;  and  some 
burned  the  houses  and  the  corn-stacks,  and  blot- 
ted the  sun  with  the  smoke  of  their  conlla- 
grations ;  and  the  summer  song  of  birds  was 
drowned  by  the  wail  of  helpless  children  and  the 
shrieks  of  the  pitiful  women.  All  this  summer 
"  Morveon. 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


223 


and  {juliimn  the  havoc  was  continued,  until  from 
O'Cahan's  country,  as  Monntjoy's  secretary  de 
scribes  it,  "  we  have  none  left  to  give  us  oppo- 
sition, nor  of  late  have  seen  any  but  dead  carcases 
merely  starved  for  want  of  meat." 

The  Deputy  had  taken  Magherlowny  and  En- 
nislaughlin,  two  principal  forts  and  arsenals  of 
O'Neill's,  and  now  about  the  end  of  August  h€ 
penetrated  to  Tullogh-oge,  the  seat  of  the  clau 
O'Hagan,  and  broke  in  pieces  that  ancient  stone 
chair  in  which  the  princes  of  Ulster  had  been 
inaugurated  for  many  a  century.*  Castle-Roe 
also  soon  became  untenable ;  and  O'Neill  retir- 
ing slowly,  like  a  hunted  beast  keeping  the  dogs 
at  bay,  retreated  to  the  deep  woods  and  thicket? 
of  Glan-con-keane,!  the  name  of  that  valley 
through  which  the  Moyola  winds  its  way  to 
Lough  Neagh,  then  the  most  inaccessible  fastness 
in  all  Tyr-owen.  Here,  with  six  hundred  in- 
fantry and  about  sixty  horse,  he  made  his  last 
stand,  and  actually  defied  the  armies  of  England 
that  whole  winter.  His  western  allies  were  still 
up  in  Connaught,  and  Bryan  Mac  Art  O'Neill 
in  Claneboy — and  a  favourable  reverse  of  fortune 
was  still  possible  ;  or  the  Spaniards  might  stil^ 
remember  him  ;  and  in  any  event  he  could  ill 
brook  the  thought  of  surrendering. 

But  the  winter's  campaign  in  Connaught  wafs 
fatal  to  the  cause  in  that  quarter.    In  the  North 

*  Stuart,  tlie  liistoriiin  of  Arin;i;rli,  says  that  sorno 
ra^^ments  of  the  O'Neiil's  stone  chair  used  to  be  shctvd 
uixm  the  glebe  of  the  parish  of  Desert-creight,  county 
Tyrone. 

♦  GLuinn-cm-c^irit  tJie  "  far  head  of  tlicglen.*' 


224  LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 

O'Cahan  gave  in  his  gubmission  to  Docwra,  and 
Chichester  and  Danvers  reduced  Bryan  Mac 
Arts  so  that  early  in  the  spring  of  1603,  O'Neill 
found  that  no  chief  in  all  Ireland  kept  the  field 
on  his  part,  except  O'Ruarc,  Mac  Gwire,  and 
Llie  faithful  Tyrrell.  He  had  heard  too  of  Rode- 
rick O'Donnell'a  submission,  and  Red  Hugh's 
death,  and  that  no  more  forces  were  to  be  hoped 
from  Spain.  Famine  also  and  pestilence,  caused 
by  the  ravage  of  the  preceding  summer,  had  made 
cruel  havoc  among  his  people.  A  thousand 
corpses  lay  unburied  between  Toome  and  Tul- 
logh-oge  ;  three  thousand  had  died  of  mere  star- 
vation in  all  Tyr-owen ;  and  "  no  spectacle,'* 
says  Moryson,  was  more  frequent  in  the  ditches 
of  towns,  and  especially  of  wasted  countries,  than 
to  see  multitudes  of  the  poor  people  dead,  with 
their  mouths  all  coloured  green,  by  eating  net- 
tles, docks,  and  all  things  they  could  rend  up 
dbove  ground."  It  was  this  winter  that  Chi- 
chester and  Sir  Richard  Moryson,  returning  from 
their  expedition  against  Bryan  Mac  Art,  "  saw 
a  horrible  spectacle — three  children,  the  eldest 
not  above  ten  years  old,  all  eating  and  gnawing 
"w^ith  their  teeth  the  entrails  of  their  dead  mother, 
on  whose  flesh  they  had  fed  for  twenty  days 
past."  Can  the  human  imagination  conceive 
such  a  ghastly  sight  as  this  ? — Or  picture  a  win- 
ter's morning,  in  a  field  near  Newry,  and  some 
old  women  making  a  fire  there ;  *'  and  divers 
little  children  driving  out  the  cattle  in  the  cold 
mornings,  and  coming  thither  to  warm  them,  are 
by  them  surprised  and  killed  and  eaten."  Captain 


lilFE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


225 


Trevor  and  many  honest  gentlemen  lying  in  the 
Newry"  witnessed  this  horror — a  vision  more  grim 
and  ghastly  than  any  weird  sisters  that  ever 
brewed  hell-broth  upon  a  blasted  heath. 

And  at  last  the  haughty  chieftain  learned  the 
bitter  lesson  of  adversity  :  the  very  materials  of 
resistance  had  vanished  from  the  face  of  thvi 
earth,  and  he  humbled  his  proud  heart,  and  sent 
proposals  of  accommodation  to  Mountjoy.  The 
Deputy  received  his  instructions  from  London, 
and  sent  Sir  William  Godolphin  and  Sir  Garret 
Moore  as  commissioners  to  arrange  with  him  the 
terms  of  peace.  The  negotiation  was  hurried, 
on  the  Deputy's  part,  by  private  information 
which  he  had  received  of  the  Queen's  death,  and 
fearing  that  O'Neill's  views  might  be  altered  by 
that  circumstance,  he  immediately  desired  the 
commissioners  to  close  the  agreement  and  invite 
O'Neill,  under  safe  conduct,  to  Drogheda,  to 
have  it  ratified  without  delay. 

On  the  thirtieth  day  of  March  (alas !  the  day) 
Hugh  O'Neill,  now  sixty  years  of  age — worn 
with  care  and  toil  and  battle,  and  in  bitter  grief 
for  the  miseries  of  his  faithful  clansmen — met 
the  Lord  Deputy  in  peaceful  guise  at  Mellifont, 
and,  on  his  bended  knees  before  him,  tendered 
his  submission  ;  and  the  favourable  conditions 
that  were  granted  him,  even  in  this  his  fallen 
estate,  show  what  anxiety  the  councillors  of 
Klizabeth  must  have  felt  to  disarm  the  still  Ibrmi- 
dable  chief.  First  he  was  to  liave  full  pardon" 
for  the  ])ast ;  next  to  be  restored  in  blood,  not- 
withstanding his  attainder  and  *'  outlawry,"  and 
to  be  reinstated  in  his  dignity  of  Earl  of  Tyr- 

1* 


226 


LIFE    OF   HUGH  o'NEILL. 


owen  ;  then  he  and  liis  people  were  to  enjoy  full 
and  free  exercise  of  their  relio;ion  ;  and  ne"W 
"  letters  patent"  were  to  issue,  re-granting  to 
him  and  other  northern  chiefs  the  whole  lands 
occupied  by  their  respective  clans,  save  the 
country  held  by  Henry  Oge  O'Neill  and  Tur- 
lough's  territory  of  the  Fews.  Out  of  the  land 
was  also  reserved  a  tract  of  six  hundred  acres 
upon  the  Blackwater ;  half  to  be  assigned  to 
Mountjoy  fort,  and  half  to  Charlemont. 

On  O'Neill's  part  the  conditions  were,  that  he 
should  once  for  all  renounce  the  title  of  "  The 
O'Neill,"  and  the  jurisdiction  and  state  of  an 
Irish  chieftain ;  that  he  should,  now  at  length, 
sink  into  an  Earl,  wear  his  coronet  and  golden 
chain  like  a  peaceable  nobleman,  and  suffer  his 
country  to  become  "  shire-ground,"  and  admit 
the  functionaries  of  English  government.  He  was 
also  to  write  to  Spain  for  his  son  Henry,*  who 
was  residing  in  the  court  of  King  Philip,  and 
deliver  him  as  a  hostage  to  the  King  of  England. 

And  so  the  torch  and  the  sword  had  rest  in 
Ulster  for  a  time  ;  and  the  remnant  of  its  inha- 
bitants, to  use  the  language  of  Sir  John  Davies, 
"  being  brayed  as  it  were  in  a  mortar  with  the 
sword,  famine,  and  pestilence  together,  sub- 
mitted themselves  to  the  British  government,  re- 

•  Tliis  Henry  appears  to  have  been  the  only  son  of 
O'Neill  and  his  first  wife ;  and  he  liad  been  living  for 
some  years  in  the  court  of  King  Philip.  O'Neill  had 
four  wives  in  succession — first,  a  daughter  of  one  of  the 
O'Tooles,  then  Hugh  O'Donnell's  sister,  then  Sir  Henry 
Bagnal's  sister ;  and  last,  a  lady  of  the  MacGennis  fa- 
mily, ofDowu. 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'nEILL. 


227 


cseived  the  laws  and  magistrates,  and  gladly 
embraced  the  King's  pardon."  That  long  bloody 
war  had  cost  England  many  millions  of  trea- 
sure,* and  the  blood  of  tens  of  thousands  of  her 
veteran  soldiers ;  and  from  the  face  of  Ireland  it 
swept  nearly  one-half  of  the  entire  population. 

From  that  day,  the  distinction  of  "  Pale"  and 
"  Irish  Country"  was  at  an  end ;  and  the  autho- 
rity of  the  Kings  of  England  and  their  Irish 
parliaments,  became,  for  the  first  time,  para- 
mount over  the  whole  island.  The  pride  of 
ancient  Erin — the  haughty  struggle  of  Irish 
nationhood  against  foreign  institutions,  and  the 
detested  spirit  of  English  imperialism,  for  that 
time,  sunk  in  blood  and  horror ;  but  the  Irish 
nation  is  an  undying  essence,  and  that  noble 
struggle  paused  for  a  season,  only  to  recommence 
in  other  forms  and  on  wider  ground — to  be  re- 
newed,  and   again   renewed,   until   Ah ! 

quousquCf  Dominey  quousque  ? 

*  "In  the  year  1599  the  queen  spent  six  hundred 
thousand  pounds  in  six  months  on  the  service  of  Ireland. 
Sir  Robert  Cecil  aflirmed  that  in  ten  years  Ireland  cost 
her  three  millions  four  hundred  thousand  pounds.'*— 
Hume.   These  were  enormoiis  sums  at  that  period. 


• 

228  LIFF  OF  HUGH  O'NEIU^ 


CHAPTER  XVL 

THE  CHIEFTAIN  BECOMES  AN  "  EARL.'*— ARTFUL 
CECIIi.  THE  END, 

A.  D.  1603—1616. 

It  now  seemed  as  if  the  entire  object  of  that 
tremendous  war  had  been,  on  the  part  of  Eng- 
land, to  force  a  coronet  upon  the  unwilling  brows 
of  an  Irish  chieftain,  and  oblige  him  in  his  own 
despite  to  accept  *' letters  patent"  and  broad 
lands  "  in  fee."  Surely,  if  this  were  to  be  the 
"  conquest  of  Ulster,"  if  the  rich  vallies  of  the 
North,  with  all  their  woods  and  waters,  mills  and 
fishings,  were  to  be  given  up  to  these  O'Neills 
and  O'Donnells,  on  whose  heads  a  price  had  so 
lately  been  set  for  traitors  ;  if,  worse  than  all, 
their  very  religion  was  to  be  tolerated,  and 
Ulster,  with  its  verdant  abbey-lands  and  livings, 
and  termon-lands,  were  still  to  set  "Reformation" 
at  defiance;  surely,  in  this  case,  the  crowd  of  esu- 
rient undertakers,  lay  and  clerical,  had  ground 
of  complaint.  It  was  not  for  this  they  left  their 
homes,  and  felled  forests,  and  camped  on  the 
mountains,  and  plucked  down  the  Red  Hand 
from  many  a  castle  wall.  Not  for  this  they 
"  preached  before  the  State  in  Christ- Church/' 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


229 


and  censured  the  backsliding  of  the  times,  and 
pointed  out  the  mortal  sin  of  a  compromise  with 
Jezebel. 

Still  a  good  time  was  coming  for  the  un- 
dertakers of  the  sword  and  cassock.  Their 
king  was  caring  for  them.  For  the  present, 
indeed,  while  any  trace  of  the  national  con- 
federacy remains,  it  is  necessary  to  "  deale 
liberally  with  the  Irish  lords  of  countreys,"*  and 
even  to  tolerate  their  religion,  "  for  a  time  not 
definite;"  until  the  northern  Irish  "shall  be  more 
divided,  and  can  be  ruined  the  more  easily."! 
Causes  of  offence  shall  arise — shall  be  created  or 
pretendedi — and  those  lands  will  assuredly  "  es- 
cheat." Reformation  will  have  its  way,  and  the 
adventurers  be  satisfied  with  the  bounties  of 
^heir  king. 

Conciliation,  however,  was  now  the  policy  of 
King  James.  He  was  to  rule  Ireland,  not  with 
the  iron  rod  of  a  conqueror  whose  title  is  the 
sword  ;  but,  deducing  his  pedigree  from  all  the 
British,  Saxon,  Danish,  and  Norman  kings  of 
England  and  Scotland,  and  condescending  even 
to  count  kindren  with  the  ancient  Ard-righs  of 
Ireland,  through  his  ancestors  the  Albanian 
Scots,  lie  indicated  an  intention  of  governing 
the  Irish  with  mild  paternal  sway,  as  though  he 
loved  them,  A  comprehensive  act  of  oblivion 
and  amnesty  was  passed  and  published  under  the 
great  seal.  All  former  "  treasons"  (as  the  pro- 
clamation styled  a  national  war  against  usurpa- 

'  Sec  MoMiitjoy's  letter,  in  the  Appendix — a  most 
iiiKtiuctive  document, 
t  Ibid. 


230 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  o'NEILI.. 


tion  and  tyranny)  were  to  be  remitted  and  utterly 
extinguished  ;  and  by  the  same  proclamation, 
the  very  "  Irishry"  were  informed  that  they  were 
to  believe  themselves  for  the  future  under  the 
peculiar  protection  of  the  crown  ;  and  the  king^s 
kindness,  as  his  majesty's  attorney-general  in- 
forms us,  '*  bred  such  comfort  and  security  in 
the  hearts  of  all  men,  as  thereupon  ensued  the 
calmest  and  most  universal  peace  that  ever  wa^ 
seen  in  Ireland.'* 

Lord  Mountjoy  having  thus  finished  his  mis- 
sion, and,  indeed,  to  give  him  justice,  having 
done  his  errand  well,  repaired  to  England,  taking 
with  him  Hugh  O'Neill  and  Roderick  O'Donnell 
to  pay  their  homage,  like  good  subjects,  at  the 
foot  of  the  throne.  Their  vessel  was  overtaken 
by  a  storm  and  nearly  wrecked  upon  the  Skerries, 
but  at  length  made  the  port  of  Beaumaris,  and 
the  passengers  proceeded  on  horseback  to  London. 
Public  feeling  towards  any  distinguished  stranger 
is  more  accurately  interpreted  by  the  populace, 
than  amidst  the  stately  observances  of  king's 
courts,  and  judging  by  this  criterion  the  name 
of  O'Neill  was  more  feared  than  loved  in  Eng- 
land. There  were  thousands  of  widows,  tens  of 
thousands  of  orphans,  whose  parents  and  whose 
husbands'  bones  strewed  many  a  battle-field  in 
Ulster,  from  Clontibret  to  Bealach-moyre,  oi- 
whitened  in  heaps  hard  by  the  fatal  Blackwater. 
And,  as  the  victor  of  Beal-an-atha-buidhe  rode 
on,  "  no  respect  to  the  Lord  Deputy,"  says  Mo- 
ryson,  "  in  whose  company  he  rode  up  to  London, 
could  contain  many  women  in  these  parts  from 
flinging  dirt  at  him  with  bitter  words.  And 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  o'nEILI.. 


231 


vhen  he  was  to  return,  he  durst  not  pass  by 
those  parts  without  directions  to  the  sheriffs  to 
convey  him  with  troops  of  horse,  from  place  to 
pLace,  till  he  was  safely  embarked." 

But  at  court  his  reception  was  most  gracious. 
His  pardon  was  confirmed,  his  letters  patent 
were  duly  made  out,  his  friend  Roderick  O'Don- 
nell  was  created  "  Earl  of  Tyrconnell,"  first  of 
that  title ;  and  with  every  mark  of  high  confi- 
dence and  honour  the  two  new  noblemen  were 
sent  home  to  take  possession  of  their  estates.  To 
other  chieftains,  their  former  confederates,  were 
also  "granted"  their  own  property  with  larger  or 
smaller  reservations  in  favour  of  rival  claimants. 
As  for  Art  O'Neill,  Tirlough  Lynnogh's  son, 
(who  would  fain  have  been  "  The  O'Neill"  and 
had  accepted  English  alliance  for  that  end,)  he 
was  forced  to  remain  "  Sir  Arthur,"  and  to  con- 
fine himself  within  narrow  limits  in  a  corner  of 
the  country.  And  the  Rugged  Niall  Garbh,  the 
Queen's  O'Donnell,  "  had  grown  so  insolent," 
says  Dr.  Leland,  "  that  government  was  well 
pleased  to  favour  his  competitor."  He  found 
that  his  allies  were  his  masters,  and  that  he  must 
yield  all  his  high  pretensions  in  favour  of  the 
new  Earl  Roderick.* 

Then  the  Catholic  religion  was  openly  pro- 

*  Poor  Nial  Garhli  fouglit  zealouslj'  for  liis  cliieftaincy, 
"and  it  nuist  be  confessetl,"  says  Cox,  "that  lie  was 
instrumental  in  tliose  f^ood  successes  ;  whereupon  he 
grew  so  insolent  as  to  tell  the  Governor  Doewra  to  his 
face  that  the  peojjle  of  Tyrconnell  were  his  suJ)jectH,  and 
that  he  would  punish,  exact,  cut,  Mul  luuig  them  as  btj 
j)lease<l." 


Z32 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


fessed  and  its  rites  celebrated,  not  only  in  the 
North,  (where  no  other  was  yet  known,)  but 
even  in  the  cities  of  Leinster  and  Munster. 
*'  Popish  ecclesiastics,"  in  Dr.  Leland's  phrase, 
*'  practised  with  their  votaries  [that  is,  said  mass 
and  adniinistered  sacraments]  without  any  decent 
cauti  jn  or  restraint ;"  even  monastic  buildings 
in  some  quarters  arose  from  their  ruins,  and  the 
abbeys  of  Multifernam  in  Westmeath  ;  Kilcon 
nell  in  Galway ;  Rossariell  in  Mayo  ;  Quin  in 
Thomond ;  and  Butteyant,  Kilcrea,  and  Timo- 
league  in  Cork  ;  were  repaired  with  somewhat 
of  their  ancient  splendour  and  occupied  by  reli- 
gious persons  as  of  old ;  to  the  grievous  scandal 
of  Dr.  Ussher  and  all  zealous  Keformers. 

The  Earl  of  Tyrone  returned  to  Dungannon  : 
and  it  is  painful  to  follow  this  un-chieftnined 
O'Neill  into  his  county."  Sheriffs  had  at  last 
appeared  there,  and  made  a  bailiwick  of  it :  itine- 
rant judges  went  circuit  in  it;  king's  commis- 
sioners travelled  through  it,  and  cleared  the 
passes,  and  surveyed  and  measured  out  the  land  ; 
and  with  the  customary  policy  of  a  government 
which  is  hostile  to  the  country  it  assumes  to  rule, 
spies  were  planted  thick  around  all  *'  suspected" 
persons.  The  haughty  O'Neill  soon  found  him- 
self surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  base  espion- 
nage,  "  Notice  is  taken,"  says  Attorney-General 
Da  vies,  "  of  every  person  that  is  able  to  do  either 
good  or  hurt.  It  is  known  not  only  how  they 
live  and  wliat  they  do,  but  it  is  foreseen  what 
they  purpose  or  intend  to  do:  insomuch  as  Ty- 
rone hath  been  heard  to  coinplain  that  he  bad  so 
aaany  eyes  watching  over  him — that  he  cotild  not 


I.IFE    OF   HUGH  0*NEILL. 


233 


drink  a  full  carouse  of  sack,  but  the  state  was  ad- 
vertised tliereof  a  few  hours  after."  Yet  he  seems 
to  have  had  no  thought  of  again  taking  up  arms. 
His  wearied  people  had  rest,  and  cultivated  their 
lands  and  practised  their  religion  in  peace  ;  and 
the  grey-haired  chief,  though  with  a  gloomy  brow 
and  indignant  heart,  endured  his  detested  earl- 
dom in  silence,  waiting  for  his  best  friend  Death. 

But  the  pre-arranged  system  of  English  go- 
vernment soon  began  to  develope  itself.  In  the 
midst  of  this  "  most  universal  peace  that  ever  was 
seen  in  Ireland,"  the  king's  councillors  suddenly 
published  in  Dublin  that  "  Act  of  Uniformity," 
the  second  of  Elizabeth,*  which  strictly  prohi- 
bited the  attendance  upon  Catholic  worship.  A 
proclamation  was  also  issued  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1605,  whereby  his  Majesty,  "  declared  to  his  be- 
loved subjects  of  Ireland  that  he  would  not  admit 
any  such  liberty  of  conscience  as  they  were  made 
to  expect ;"  and  commanded  all  Catholic  clergy 
by  a  certain  day  to  depart  the  realm.j  Again  the 
spiritual  courts  of  the  king's  bishops  resumed 
their  functions  :  the  church-wardens  were  busy  ; 
the  priests  had  to  fly  or  lurk  in  secret  places  ; 
and  all  the  terrors  of  the  penal  laws  were  let  loose 

•  It  is  suflBciently  well  attested  (though  not  very  ma- 
terial for  us  to  remark  here)  that  tliis  act  w  as  obtained 
ill  the  Pale  parliament  surreptitiously  and  fraudulently. 
Whetlier  it  were  so  or  not  the  attemjjting  to  impose  it 
ui)on  the  ancient  Irish,  who  had  no  i)art  in  enacting  it, 
and  were  not  even  de  facto  subject  to  that  parliament  a* 
the  time,  was  e(iualiy  a  I'raud  and  an  outrage. 

f  Dr.  Mant  admits  thattiiere  was  in  this  proclamation 
an  "aiiparent  severity,"  p.  350. 


234  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 

upon  the  land.  Such  measures  as  these  had  just 
provoked  the  Gunpowder  Conspiracy  in  England; 
and  seem  to  have  been  intended  to  drive  the  Irish 
to  arms,  in  order,  as  Mountjoy  says,  to  the  "  ab- 
solute reducement  of  that  country but  if  that 
were  the  object  it  altogether  failed;  and  another 
expedient  had  to  be  substituted,  as  we  shall  pre- 
sently see. 

A  very  interesting  account  is  given  by  Sir 
John  Davies  (in  a  letter  to  Robert  Cecil  Earl  of 
Salisbury,)  of  a  progress  made  by  the  Lord  De- 
puty Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  into  some  of  the 
northern  counties  in  1607.  The  Lord  Chancellor, 
the  Chief  Justice,  Sir  Oliver  Lambert,  Sir  Garret 
Moore  and  the  Attorney-General  (Sir  John  him- 
self) accompanied  Chichester  ;  "  and  albeit,"  he 
says,  "  we  were  to  pass  through  the  wastest  and 
wildest  parts  of  all  the  North,  yet  had  we  only 
for  our  guard  six  or  seven  score  of  foot,  and  fifty 
or  three  score  horse,  which  is  an  argument  of  a 
good  time  and  of  a  confident  Deputy.  For  in  former 
times,  when  the  state  enjoyed  the  best  peace  and 
security  no  Lord  Deputy  did  ever  venture  him- 
self in'*to  those  parts,  without  an  army  of  eight 
hundred  or  a  thousand  men."  They  encamped 
one  night  on  the  borders  of  Farney,  "  which,** 
says  Sir  John,  "  is  the  inheritance  of  the  Earl 
of  Essex  then  they  proceeded  to  Monaghan, 
delivered  the  gaol,  and  "  empanelled  a  jury  to 
inquire  into  the  state  of  the  church  in  that  coun' 
ty,"  which  found  a  verdict,  "  that  the  churches 
for  the  most  part  are  utterly  waste ;  that  the 
king  is  patron  of  all ;  and  that  their  incumbents 
are  Popish  priests,  instituted  by  bishops  authorized 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O  NEILL. 


235 


from  Rome."  It  appears,  however,  that  the 
dioceses  of  Derry,  Raphoe  and  Clogher  had  at 
last  been  provided  with  a  king's  bishop,  who  was 
resident  in  England,  and  "  whose  absence,"  says 
Davies,  "  being  two  years  since  he  had  been 
elected  by  his  Majesty,  hath  been  the  chief  cause 
that  no  course  hath  been  hitherto  taken  to  reduce 
these  poor  people  to  Christianity,  and  therefore 
majus  peccatum  hahet"  Of  another  bishop,  one 
Draper,  Davies  says,  "  there  is  no  divine  service 
or  sermon  to  be  heard  within  either  of  his  dio- 
ceses." 

From  these  intimations,  it  would  appear  that 
there  was  not  in  the  year  1607  a  single  Protes- 
tant in  all  the. North,  except  the  soldiers  in  gar- 
rison ;  so  that  the  religious  "  Reformation"  wa^i 
Btill  unknown  there. 

The  second  night  after  leaving  Monaghan  they 
arrived  at  Lough  Erne  ;  and  "  we  pitched  our 
tents,"  says  Sir  John,  "  over  against  the  island  of 
Devenish,  a  place  being  prepared  for  the  holding 
of  our  sessions  for  Fermanagh  in  the  ruins  of  an 
abbey  there."  Thus  they  proceeded  through  all 
Mac  Gwire's,  O'Reilly's  and  Mac  Mahon's  coun- 
tries, administering  justice,  and  holding  a  kind  of 
inquisition  into  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil  af- 
fairs. 

In  the  latter  department  also  the  Deputy  found 
that  much  remained  to  be  done,  before  English 
institutions  and  government  should  predominate 
in  the  North.  As  an  instance  of  the  tenacity 
with  which  the  people  adhered  to  their  ancient 
customs,  Davies  mentions  the  case  of  an  O'Reilly, 
"  to  whom  Sir  George  Carey  had  given  thQ  cus- 


236 


LTFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


tody  of  the  land  (Breffni)  during  the  king's  plea- 
sure, whereof,  he  continues,  the  poor  gentleman 
hath  little  benefit,  because,  not  being  created 
O'Relie  by  them,  they  do  not  suffer  him  to  cut 
and  exact  like  an  Irish  prince." 

In  concluding  his  narrative  Davies  says  :  "  If 
my  Lord  Deputy  do  finish  these  beginnings,  and 
settle  these  counties,  as  I  assure  myself  he  will, 
this  will  prove  the  most  profitable  journey  for  the 
service  of  God  and  his  Majesty,  and  the  generaj 
good  of  this  kingdom  that  hath  been  made  in  the 
time  of  peace  by  any  deputy  these  many  years." 

And  truly  it  did  appear  full  time  to  settle" 
the  North.  All  apprehension  of  an  Irish  war 
was  at  an  end.  The  power  of  the,  Ulster  chief- 
tains was  utterly  broken  ;  and  hungry  under- 
takers were  waiting  for  their  prey.  English 
statesmen  had  now  fully  adopted  the  expedient 
of  getting  up  fictitious  plots,  and  fastening  them 
upon  whatever  party  they  designed  to  ruin :  and 
on  this  occasion  we  find  a  choice  instance  of  that 
policy. 

Doctor  Jones,  the  king's  bishop  of  Meath,  gives 
the  generally  received  account  of  the  matter  in 
these  words:*  "  Anno  1607,  there  was  a  provi- 
dential discovery  of  another  rebellion  in  Ireland, 
the  Lord  Chichester  being  deputy  :  the  discoverer 
not  being  willing  to  appear,  a  letter  from  him, 
not  subscribed)  was  superscribed  to  Sir  William 
Usher,  clerk  of  the  council,  and  dropt  in  the 
council-chnm.ber  then  held  in  the  Castle  of  Dub- 
lin ;  in  which  was  mentioned  a  design  for  seizing 


*  Curry's  Review, 


I^IFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


237 


the  Castle  and  murdering  the  Deputy,  with  a 
general  revolt  and  dependence  on  Spanish  forces 
and  this  also  for  religion :  for  particulars  where- 
of," says  the  bishop,  "  I  refer  to  that  letter  dated 
March  the  19th,  1607. 

Another  version  of  it  is  given  thus  by  Ander- 
son (Royal  Genealogies):  "Artful  Cecil*  em- 
ployed one  St.  Lawrence  to  entrap  the  earls  of 
Tyrone  and  Tyrconnell,  the  lord  of  Delvin  and 
other  Irish  chiefs,  into  a  sham  plot,  which  had 
no  evidence  but  his."f 

And  there  is  yet  a  third  story  given  by  Dr 
Carleton,  bishop  of  Chichester — that  one  Mont- 
gomery, who  is  called  Bishop  of  Derry,  was  in- 
formed that  O'Neill  had  got  into  possession  of 
certain  lands  belonging  to  his  see  (concerning 
vhich  he  was  much  more  solicitous  than  for  the 
souls  of  all  the  diocese):j: — that  he  instituted  a 
Buit  to  discover  these  lands — that  he  found  one 
of  the  O'Cahans  of  Derry,  able  and  willing  to 
assist  his  researches,  and  to  give  evidence  in  his 
cause — that  processes  were  issued  calling  upon 
(yNeill  to  appear  and  answer  in  the  cause  of 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Derry  against  Hugh  Earl 
of  Tyrone — and  that  O'Neill,  "having  entered 
into  a  new  conspiracy  in  which  O'Cahan  was, 
began  to  suspect,  when  he  was  served  with  a 
process  to  answer  the  suit,  that  this  was  but  a 

•  HoLert  Cecil,  Earl  of  Salishury,  the  discoverer,  and 
lome  say  contriver,  of  the  gunpowder  plot. 

f  This  is  tlie  account  adopted  by  Mac  (ieoghcrfan. 

j  This  must  be  the  same  absentee  bishop  mentiored 
by  iJavies,  wljo  had  taken  no  course  to  reduce  his  people 
to  (,'hrL3tianity. 


238 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


plot  to  draw  him  in,  and  that  surely  the  treason 
had  been  revealed  by  O'Cahan." 

It  matters  little  in  which  of  all  these  ways  it 
fell  out  that  O'Neill  came  to  be  charged  with  this 
conspiracy.  By  some  means  or  other,  by  anony- 
mous letters,  or  vague  rumours,  "  artful  Cecil" 
succeeded  in  fixing  upon  O'Neill  and  O'Donnel] 
a  cliai'ge  of  treason,  to  sustain  which  there  has 
not  been,  from  that  day  to  this,  a  tittle  of  evi- 
dence. They  were  informed  however  that  wit- 
nesses were  to  be  hired  against  them,*  and  be- 
lieving this  highly  probable  from  the  whole  course 
of  English  policy  towards  Irishmen,  knowing  also 
the  rapacious  views  of  James,  and  that  their 
presence  in  the  kingdom  would  only  draw  down 
heavier  misfortune  upon  their  poor  clansmen,  and 
having  moreover  a  wdiolesome  terror  of  juries 
since  the  fate  of  Mac  Mahon  ;  they  came  to  the 
resolution  of  leaving  their  unhappy  native  coun- 
try, and  seeking  amongst  the  continental  powers, 
either  arms  and  troops  to  right  the  wrongs  of 
Erin,  or  at  least  a  place  to  end  their  own  days  in 
peace.'  They  waited  not  for  the  toils  of  Chi- 
chester to  close  around  them ;  but  in  the  autumn 
of  that  year,  on  the  festival  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
they  emoarked  in  a  vessel  that  had  lately  carried 
Cuconnaught  Mac  Gwire  and  Donagh  O'Brien 
to  Ireland,  and  was  then  lying  in  Lough  Swilly. 
With  O'Neill  went  his  wife,  the  laJy  Catherina 
end  her  three  sons,  Hugh,  whom  they  called  the 
Baron  Dungannon,  John  and  Brian,  Art  Oge 
son  of  Cormac  Mac  Baron,  Ferdoragh  son  of 


*  Anderion.    Royal  Genealogies. 


LIFE    OF   HUGH  o'ifEILIi. 


239 


Conn  (who  was  a  natural  son  of  O'Neill,)  Hugh 
Oire  and  others  of  his  family  and  friends.  .Rode- 
rick O'Donnell  was  attended  by  bis  brother 
Cathbar,  and  his  sister  Nuala,*  Hugh,  the  Earl's 
child,  wanting  three  weeks  of  being  a  year  old, 
Rose,  daughter  of  O'Dogherty  and  wife  .of  Cath- 
bar, with  her  son  Hugh,  aged  two  years  and 
three  months,  Roderick's  brother's  son  Donnell 
Oge,  son  of  Donnell,  Naghtan  son  of  Calvagh 
who  was  son  of  Donnell  Cairbreach  O'Donnell, 
and  other  friends  : — surely  a  distinguished  com- 
pany ;  and  "  it  is  certain,  say  the  reverend  chro- 
niclers of  Tyrconnell,  that  the  sea  has  not  borne, 
and  the  Avind  has  not  wafted  in  modern  times  a 
number  of  persons  in  one  ship  more  eminent, 
illustrious  or  noble  in  point  of  genealogy,  heroic 
deeds,  valour,  feats  of  arms  and  brave  achieve- 
ments than  they.  Would  that  God  had  but  per- 
mitted them,"  continue  the  Four  Masters,  "  to 
remain  in  their  patrimonial  inheritances  until 
the  children  should  arive  at  the  age  of  manhood ! 
Woe  to  the  heart  that  meditated — woe  to  the 
mind  that  conceived — woe  to  the  council  that 
recommended  the  project  of  this  expedition,  with- 
out knowing  whether  they  should  to  the  end  of 
their  lives,  be  able  to  return  to  their  ancient 
principalities  and  patrimonies."  With  gloomy 
looks  and  sad  forebodings,  the  clansmen  of  Tyr- 
connell gazed  upon  tliat  latal  ship,  "built  in  th' 
eclipse  and  rigged  with  curses  dark,"  as  she 

•  This  lady  had  been  the  wife  of  Niall  Garbli,  but  had 
left  him  on  his  taking  arms  against  her  br*th«r,  Red 


240 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O^NEILL, 


dropped  down  Lough  Swilly,  and  was  hidden 
behind  the  cliffs  of  Fanad  head.  They  never 
saw  their  chieftains  more. 

Here  was  brought  about  the  very  state  of 
affairs  that  King  James  had  long  desired. 
*'  Nothing,"  says  Dr.  Leland,  "  could  be  more 
favourable  to  that  passion  which  James  indulged 
for  reforming  Ireland,  by  the  introduction  of 
English  law  and  civility."  So  very  favourable, 
indeed,  as  to  leave  little  doubt  that  it  was  all 
contrived  by  that  man  of  plots  "  Artful  Cecil 
and  so  vague  and  suspicious  are  the  accounts  of 
"  the  conspiracy  of  the  Earls,"  that  Dr.  Curry 
is  tolerably  safe  in  concluding  "  there  never  was 
any  such  conspiracy  ;  and  these  accounts  were 
then  framed,  however  injudiciously,  to  give 
some  colour  of  right  to  public  acts  of  slander, 
oppression,  and  rapine."* 

Instantly  commissioners  were  despatched  to 
the  North  to  deal  with  "  traitors,"  and  take  ac- 
count o^  lands  which  were  to  escheat  to  the 
crown.  The  two  Earls,  with  other  chieftains, 
were  duly  attainted  by  process  of  outlawry  ;  their 
lands  and  titles  were  declared  forfeit ;  and  the 
Plantation  of  Ulster  commenced. 

*  Historical  Review.  The  king,  as  if  anticipating 
this  conclusion,  published  a  proclamation,  in  which 
(amongst  other  tilings)  he  says:  "wee  doe  professe  that 
it  is  both  known  to  us  and  our  counsell  here,  and  to  our 
deputie  and  state  there,  and  so  shall  it  appeare  to  the 
world,  (as  cleare  as  the  sunne,)  by  evident  proofes,  that 
the  only  ground  and  motive  of  this  high  contemjjt,  in 
these  men'«  departure,  hath  been  the  ])rivate  knowledge 
and  inward  terrour  of  their  own  guiltinesse,"  &c.  But 
no  attempt  to  give  these  proofs  was  ever  made. 


OFE   OF  HUGH  0*NEILL. 


241 


These  operations,  indeed,  were  interrupted  the 
following  year  bj  the  rising  of  Cahir  O'Dogherty, 
chief  of  Inishowen.  O'Dogherty  quarrelled  with 
Sir  Greorge  Pawlett,  to  whom  Docwra  had  in- 
trusted the  government  of  Derry ;  and  on  the 
first  of  May,  1608,  he  took  Culmore  fort  by 
stratagem,  surprised  Derry,  put  both  governor 
and  garrison  to  the  sword,  plundered  the  town 
and  laid  it  in  ashes.  Three  months  he  kept  the 
field  against  Marshal  Wingfield  and  his  army ; 
but  at  length  fell,  either  in  battle,  or  by  the 
hand  of  private  ^lengeance  (for  the  chroniclers 
differ),  and  the  last  obstacle  was  removed  to  one 
of  the  most  enormous  schemes  of  sweeping 
plunder  that  history  has  to  record.*  In  the  six 
counties  of  Donegal,  Tyrone,  Derry,  Ferma- 
iiagh,  Cavan,  and  Armagh,  a  tract  of  country, 
containing  five  hundred  thousand  acres,  was 
seized  upon  by  the  King,  and  parcelled  out  in 
lots  to  undertakers.  The  "  domains"  of  the  at- 
tainted lords  were  assumed  to  include  all  the 
lands  inhabited  by  their  clans  ;  and  so  far  were 
the  King's  new  arrangements  from  respecting 
the  rights  of  the  ancient  natives,  that  "  the  fun- 
damental  ground   of  this  plantation  was  the 

*  The  act  of  Parliament  passed  upon  that  occasion 
thus  recites — "And  whereas  the  divine  justice  hath 
lately  cast  out  of  the  province  of  Ulster  divers  wicked 
and  ungrateful!  traytors,  wlio  practised  to  interrupt  those 
blessed  courses,  bej^un  and  continued  by  your  IViajestie 
for  the  ^(enerall  good  of  this  wlude  realm,  by  whose  de- 
fection and  attainders  great  scojjcs  of  land  in  those  i)arts 
have  been  reduced  to  your  Majestie's  hands  and  posse*, 
sion,"  &c. 


242 


LIFE  OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


avoiding  of  natives,  and  planting  only  with  Bri- 
tish."* 

Now  at  last  the  undertakers  had  their  will  of 
Ulster,  and  the  King's  clergy  had  that  corner  ol 
the  vineyard  opened  to  their  labours.  Now  all 
those  Wingfields,  and  Caulfields,  and  Blaneys, 
and  Chichesters  had  their  long-expected  estates. 
The  Lord  Deputy  alone  received  for  his  share 
the  entire  peninsula  of  Inishowen — the  broad 
erenach  and  termon-lands  wherewith  ancient 
piety  had  endowed  Saint  Columba's  Teampol- 
More,  formed  the  richest  bishop's  see  in  Ireland 
(perhaps  too  rich  for  a  bishop  who  had  neither 
flocks  nor  clergy)  ;  and  the  entire  territory  of 
Arachty  was  allotted,  by  letters  patent,  with 
much  Norman  law  language,  to  certain  drapers, 
grocers,  skinners,  vintners,  and  other  guilds  of 
tradesmen  in  the  good  city  of  London  ;  and  the 
noble  old  Irish  race,  the  clansmen  who  had. 
pierced  the  mailed  ranks  of  Bagnal  and  Norreys, 
and  had  trampled  Saint  George's  banner  on 
many  a  battle-field,  worn  down  by  famine  and 
disease,  without  leaders  and  without  hope,  were 
driven  to  the  desolate  mountains,  were  hunted 
like  wolves,  and  from  their  inaccessible  heights 
could  see  those  rich  valleys  where  they  and  their 
fathers  dwelt,  flooded  by  hordes  of  Scotch  and 

*  Sir  Thomas  Philijjs,  in  Harris's  Hibernia.  '*Itis 
true,  says  Sir  Thomas,  that  after  a  prescribed  number 
of  freeholders  and  leaseholders  were  settled  upon  every 
town  land,  an.d  rents  therein  set  down,  they  might  let 
the  remainder  to  natives  for  lives,  so  as  they  were  con- 
formable in  religion,  and  for  the  favour,  to  double  their 
rents."  See  also  for  full  information  on  the  details  (rf 
the  plantation,  Captain  Pynnar's  "  Survey  of  Ulster." 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O^NEILL. 


243 


English  adventurers.  Surely  it  was  a  heart- 
breaking sight  to  see  ;  and  no  roan  can  think  it 
srange  if  deeds  of  stern  and  bloody  vengeance 
were  sometimes  done. 

How  it  fared  with  the  exiled  chiefs  and  theii 
associates,  we  have  no  minute  or  very  authentic 
account ;  and  if  we  had,  it  were  indeed  one  oi 
the  saddest  stories.  At  first  they  sailed  directly 
to  Normandy  ;  then  proceeded  to  Flanders  ;  and 
finally  to  Rome,  where  the  Pope  (Paul  the  Fifth^ 
received  them  with  hospitality  and  high  consi- 
deration. But  who  can  describe,  or  imagine, 
with  what  bitterness  of  soul  the  aged  Prince  of 
Ulster  heard  of  the  miseries  of  his  faithful  peo- 
ple, and  the  manifold  oppressions  and  robberies 
of  those  detested  English  ;  with  what  earnest 
passion  he  pleaded  with  Popes  and  Princes,  and 
besought  them  to  think  upon  the  wrongs  of  Ire- 
land. Ha !  if  >  he  had  sped  in  that  mission  of 
vengeance — if  he  had  persuaded  Paul  or  Philip 
to  give  him  some  ten  thousand  Italians  or  Spa- 
niards— how  would  it  have  fluttered  those  Eng- 
lish in  their  dove-cotes,  to  behold  his  ships  stand- 
ing up  Lough  Foyle,  with  the  Bloody  Hand 
displayed !  Assuredly  he  would  have  disturbed 
their  "  letters  patent,"  would  have  made  very 
light  of  their  "  statutes,  their  fines,  their  double 
vouchers,  their  recoveries."  Spanish  blades  and 
Irish  pikes  would  have  made  "the  fine  of  their 
firi>c;3,  the  recovery  of  their  recoveries."  But  not 
so  was  it  written  in  the  Book.  No  potentate  in 
Europe  was  willing  to  risk  such  a  force  as  waa 
needed  ;  and  after  wandering  from  court  to  court, 
fcaiiDg  his  own  heart,  lor  eight  years,    he  bo 


244 


LIFE   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


came  blind,  and  so,  with  darkened  eyes  and  soul, 
died  at  Rome  some  time  in  the  year  1616.* 

*  Borlase.    Reduction  of  Ireland. 

Borlase  says  that  his  son  (probably  that  Henry  who 
was  recalled  from  Spain)  was,  some  years  after,  found 
strangled  in  his  bed  at  Brussels ;  ' '  and  so, "  he  observes, 
*'  ended  his  race." 

Trom  the  fine  Elegy  so  beautifully  translated  by  Man- 
gan,  it  appears  that  O  Donnell  also,  and  his  brothel 
Cathbar,  and  O'Neill's  three  young  sons,  all  died  at  Rome, 
and  lie  buried  there  together : — 

Two  princes  of  the  line  of  Conn 
Sleej)  in  their  cells  of  clay,  beside 
O'Donnell  Roe : 
^      Three  royal  youths,  alas !  are  gone, 

Who  lived  for  Erin's  weal,  but  died 
For  Erin's  woe  1 
Ah  !  could  the  men  of  Ireland  read 
The  names  these  noteless  burial  stones 
Display  to  view, 
Their  wounded  hearts  afresh  would  bleed.. 
Their  tears  gush  forth  again,  their  giuans 
Resound  anew  1 
*  *  ♦ 

And  who  can  marvel  o'er  thy  grief, 
Or  who  can  blame  thy  flowing  tears, 
That  knows  their  source  ? 
O'Donnell,  Dunnasava's  chief. 
Cut  off  amidst  his  vernal  years. 
Lies  here  a  corse, 
Beside  his  brother  Cathbar,  whom 
Tyrconnell  of  the  Helmets  mourns 

In  deep  despair — 
For  valour,  truth,  and  comely  bloom  i 
jsoi  all  that  greatens  and  adorns 
A  peerless  pair. 


APPENDIX. 


A  LETTER  FROM  LORD  DEPUTY  MOUNTJOY  TO  THE  LORDS 
OF  THE  COUNCIL  IN  ENGLAND. 

May  it  please  your  Lordships — Although  T  am 
unwilling  to  inforine  you  often  of  the  present  estate  of 
this  kingdom,  or  of  any  particular  accidents  or  services, 
because  the  one  is  subject  to  so  much  alteration,  and  the 
other  lightly  delivered  unto  all  that  are  not  present, 
with  such  uncertaintie  ;  and  that  I  am  loath  to  make 
any  project  unto  your  lordships,  either  of  my  requests 
to  you,  or  my  owne  resolutions  here,  since  so  many 
things  fall  suddainly  out,  which  may  alter  the  grounds 
of  either ;  yet  since  I  doe  write  noAv  by  one  that  can  so 
sufficiently  supply  the  defects  of  a  letter,  I  have  pre- 
sumed at  this  time  to  imi)urte  unto  your  lordships  that 
1  think  fit  to  be  remembered,  or  doe  determine  on  ; 
most  humbly  desiring  your  lordships,  that  if  I  err  in  the 
one,  or  hereafter  alter  the  other,  you  will  not  impute  it 
to  my  want  of  sinceritie  or  constanc}^  but  to  the  nature 
of  the  suV)ject  whereof  I  must  treate,  or  of  the  matter 
whereon  1  worke :  And  first,  to  present  unto  your  lord- 
ships the  outwiud  face  of  the  four  provinces,  and  after 
to  guesse  (as  neerc  as  I  can)  at  their  dispositions. 
Mounster,  by  the  good  government  and  industry  of  the 
Lord  Tresident,  is  cleare  of  any  force  in  rebellion,  ex- 
cept some  few,  not  able  to  make  any  forcible  head  ;  ir 
Leinster  there  is  not  one  declared  rebell ;  in  C'onnaught 
there  is  none  but  in  O'Rorke's  country  ;  in  Ulster  none 
but  I'yrone  and  Bryan  Mac  Art,  wlio  was  never  lord  of 
9,ny  country,  and  now  doth,  with  a  body  of  loose  men. 


APPENDIX. 


and  some  crefights,  continue  in  Glancomkynes,  or  neere 
tlie  borders  thereof.  Cohonocht  Mac  Gwyre,  sometimes 
Lord  of  Fermanagh,  is  banished  out  of  the  country,  who 
lircs  with  O'iiorke  ;  and  at  this  time  Conor  Koe  Mac 
Gwyre  is  possessed  of  it  by  the  queene,  and  holds  it  for 
her.  I  beheve  that  generally  the  lords  of  the  countries 
that  are  reclaimed  desire  a  peace,  though  they  will  be 
wavering  till  their  lands  and  estates  are  assured  unto 
I'oem  from  her  Majestic  ;  and  as  long  as  they  see  a  party 
in  rebellion  to  subsist,  that  is  of  a  power  to  mine  them^ 
if  they  continue  subjects  or  otherwise,  shall  be  doubtful 
of  our  defence.  All  that  are  out  doe  seeke  for  mercy, 
excepting  O'Rorke,  and  O'SuUivan,  Avho  is  now  witli 
O'liorke,  and  these  are  obstinate  only  out  of  their  diflS? 
dence  to  be  safe  in  any  fca-givenesse.  The  loose  men. 
and  such  as  are  only  captaines  of  Bonnoghts,  as  Tirrell 
and  Brian  IMac  Art,  will  nourish  the  warre  as  long  as 
they  see  any  possibilitie  to  subsist;  and,  like  ill  hu- 
mours, have  recourse  to  any  part  that  is  unsound.  The 
nobilitie,  towns,  and  English-Irish  are,  for  the  most 
part,  as  weary  of  the  warre  as  any,  but  unwilling  to 
h?ve  it  ended,  generally  for  fear  that  upon  a  peace  will 
ensue  a  severe  reformation  of  religion  ;  and,  in  particu- 
lar, many  bordering  gentlemen  that  were  made  poore 
by  tlieir  own  faults,  or  by  rebels'  incursions,  continue 
their  spleene  to  them,  now  they  are  become  subjects  ; 
and  having  used  to  hclpe  themselves  b}'^  stealths,  did 
never  more  use  them,  nor  better  prevailed  in  them  than 
Tjow,  that  these  submittees  have  layed  aside  their  owne 
defence,  and  betaken  themselves  to  the  x>rotection  and 
justice  of  the  state  ;  and  many  of  them  have  tasted  so 
much  sweete  in  entertainments  that  they  rather  desire  a 
warre  to  continue  there  than  a  quiet  harvest  tliat  might 
arise  out  of  their  own  honest  labour  ;  so  that  I  doe  find 
none  more  pernicious  instruments  of  a  new  warre  than 
some  of  these.  In  the  meane  time,  Tyrone,  while  he 
shall  live,  will  blow  every  sparke  of  discontent,  or  new 
hopes  that  -shall  lye  hid  in  a  corner  of  the  kingdonie 
and  before  he  shall  be  utterly  extinguished  make  many 
blazes,  and  sometimes  set  on  fire  or  consume  the  next 
eubjects  unto  him.  I  am  persuaded  that  his  combina- 
tion is  already  brolien,  and  it  is  apparent  that  hia 


APPENPIX. 


247 


meaiies  to  subsist  in  &ny  power  is  overthrowne ;  but 
how  long  hee  may  live  as  a  wood-kerne,  and  wha-t  new 
accidents  may  fall  out  while  he  doth  live  I  know  not. 
If  it  be  imputed  to  my  fault  that,  notwithstanding  her 
Majestie'f  great  forces,  he  doth  still  live,  I  beseech 
your  lordships  to  remember  how  securely  the  ban- 
ditoes  of  Italy  doe  live,  betweene  the  power  of  the 
King  of  Spaine  and  tlie  Pope.  How  many  men  of 
all  countreye*  of  severall  times  have  in  such  sort  pre- 
served themselves  long  from  the  great  power  of  princes, 
but  especially  in  this  countrey,  where  there  are  so  many 
difficulties  to  carry  an  armie,  in  most  places  so  many  un- 
accessible  strengths  for  them  to  flye  unto  :  and  then  to  bee 
pleased  to  consider  the  great  worke  that  first  I  had  to 
breake  this  maine  rebellion,  to  defend  the  kingdom  from 
a  dangerous  invasion  of  a  mightie  forraine  prince,  with 
so  strong  a  partie  in  the  countrey,  and  now  the  diffi- 
cultie  to  root  out  scattered  troopes  that  had  so  many  un- 
accessible  dennes  to  lurke  in,  whicli  as  they  are  by  nature 
of  extreme  strength  and  perill  to  bee  attempted  :  so  it  is 
impossible  for  any  people  naturally  and  by  art  to  make 
greater  use  of  them.  And  though  with  infinite  dangers 
wee  do  beat  them  out  of  one,  yet  is  there  no  possibilitie 
for  us  to  follow  them  with  such  agilitie  as  they  will  flyc 
to  another  :  and  it  is  most  sure  that  never  traytor  knew 
better  how  to  keepe  his  owne  bead  than  this ;  nor  any 
subjects  have  a  more  dreadfuU  awe  to  lay  violent  hands 
on  their  sacred  prince,  than  these  people  have  to  touch 
the  person  of  their  O'Neales ;  and  hee  that  hath  as  pes- 
tilent a  .iu'l;,'mfent  as  ever  any  had  to  nourisli  and  to 
spreade  his  owne  infection,  liath  the  ancient  swelling  and 
desire  of  libcrtie  in  conquered  nation  to  worbie  upoi., 
their  fear  to  liee  rooted  out,  or  to  have  tlieir  old  faidta 
punished  upon  all  particular  discontents,  and  generally 
Over  all  the  kingdom  the  feare  of  a  persecution  for  re- 
ligion, the  debasing  of  the  coyne,  (which  is  grievous 
unto  all  sortes)  and  a  dearth  and  famine  which  is  already 
begun  and  must  necessarily  grow  shortly  to  extremity  : 
the  least  of  which  alone  have  been  many  times  siiflicicnt 
n)()tives  to  drive  the  best  and  most  (juict  estates  into  siuU 
daine  confusion.  'J'hese  will  kecj)e  all  spirits  froui  set. 
tling»  breed  now  combinations,  and,  I  feare,  even  stir  the 


248 


APPENDIX. 


townes  themselves  to  solicit  forraine  aide,  with  pifomiw 
to  east  themselves  into  their  protection  :  and  although  it 
bee  true  that  if  it  had  pleased  her  majestic  to  have  longef 
continued  her  army  in  greater  strength,  I  should  the  bet- 
ter have  provided  for  what  these  cloudes  doe  threaten, 
and  sooner  and  more  easily  either  have  made  this  coun- 
trey  a  rased  table,  wherein  shee  might  have  written  her 
owne  lawes,  or  have  tyed  the  ill-disposed  and  rebellious 
hands  till  I  had  surely  planted  such  a  government  as 
would  have  overgrowne  and  kiUed  any  weeds  that  should 
have  risen  under  it :  yet  since  the  necessitie  of  the  state 
doeth  so  urge  a  diminution  of  this  great  expense,  I  wiU 
not  despayre  to  goe  on  with  this  worke,  through  all  thesf 
difficulties,  if  wee  bee  not  interrupted  by  forraine  forces, 
although  perchance  wee  may  be  encountered  with  some 
new  irruptions,  and  (by  often  adventuring)  with  some 
disasters  :  and  it  may  bee  your  lordships  shall  sometimes 
heare  of  some  spoyles  done  upon  the  subjects,  from  the 
which  it  is  impossible  to  preserve  them  in  all  places,  with 
far  greater  forces  than  ever  yet  vvere  kept  in  this  king- 
dome  :  and  although  it  hatli  been  seldom  heard  that  an 
armie  hath  been  carried  on  with  so  continuall  action,  and 
enduring  without  any  intermission  of  winter  breathings, 
and  that  the  difficulties  at  this  time  to  keepe  any  forces 
in  the  place  wliere  wee  must  make  the  warre  (but  espe- 
cially our  horse)  are  almost  beyond  any  hope  to  prevent, 
yet  with  the  favour  of  God  and  her  majesty's  fortune  I 
doe  determine  myselfe  to  draw  into  the  field  as  soon  as  I 
have  received  her  majesty's  commandments  by  the  com- 
missioners, who  it  hath  pleased  her  to  send  over ;  and  i^ 
the  mean  time  I  hope  by  mine  owne  presence  or  direc- 
tions to  set  every  partie  on  worke  that  doth  adjoyne,  or 
may  bee  drawn  against  any  force  that  doth  now  remaiue 
in  rebellion.  In  which  journey  the  successe  must  bee  in 
the  liands  of  God :  but  I  will  confidently  promise  to  omit 
thing  that  is  possible  by  us  to  bee  done,  to  give  the 
iast  blow  unto  tlie  rebellion.  But  as  all  paine  and  an. 
guish,  impatient  of  the  present  doeth  use  cliange  for  a 
remedie ;  sa  will  it  be  impossible  for  us  to  settle  tlie 
minds  of  these  people  unto  a  peace,  or  reduce  them  unto 
order,  while  tliey  feele  the  smart  of  these  sensible  griefes 
and  apparent  f^^ares  wliich  I  have  remembered  to  your 


APPENDIX. 


249 


lordships  without  some  hope  of  reclresse  or  securitie. 
Therefore  I  will  presume,  (how  unworthy  soever  I  have 
beene,)  since  it  concerns  the  province  her  majestie  hath 
given  me,  with  all  humblenesse  to  lay  before  your  grave 
judgments  some  few  things  which  I  thinke  necessary  to 
be  considered  of. 

And  first,  whereas  the  alteration  of  the  coyne  and 
taking  away  of  the  exchange  in  such  measure  as  it  was 
first  promised,  hath  bred  a  generall  grievance  unto  men 
of  all  qualities,  and  so  many  incommodities  to  all  sorts, 
that  it  is  beyond  the  judgment  of  any  that  I  can  heare, 
to  prevent  a  confusion  in  this  estate  by  the  continuance 
thereof,  that  (at  the  least)  it  would  please  your  lord- 
ships to  put  tins  people  in  some  cercame  iiope,  triat;  upon 
the  end  of  the  warre  this  new  standard  shall  be  abolished 
or  eased  ;  and  that  in  the  meane  time  the  armie  may  be 
favourably  dealt  with  in  the  exchange,  since  by  the  last 
proclamation  your  lordships  sent  over,  they  doe  conceive 
their  case  will  bee  more  hard  than  anie  others ;  for  if 
they  have  allowed  them  nothing  but  indefinitely  as  much 
as  they  shall  merely  gaine  out  of  their  entertainments, 
that  will  proove  nothing  to  the  greater  parte.    Eor  the 
onlie  possibilitie  to  make  them  to  live  upon  their  enter- 
tamment,  will  bee  to  allow  them  exchange  for  the  greatest 
parte  thereof,  since  now  they  doe  not  only  pay  excessive 
prizes  for  all  things,  but  can  hardly  get  anything  for  this 
money.    And,  although  we  have  presumed  to  alter  (in 
shew  though  not  in  effect)  the  Proclamation  in  that 
point,  by  retayning  a  power  in  ourselves  to  proportion 
their  allowance  for  exchange  ;  yet,  was  it  with  a  minde 
to  conform  our  proceedings  therein  according  to  your 
lordships'  next  directions,  and  therefore  doe  humbly  de- 
sire to  know  your  pleasures  therein.  For  our  opinions  of 
the  last  project  it  pleased  your  lordships  to  send  us,  I 
doe  huniljly  leave  it  to  our  generall  letters:  only  as  for 
myself  I  ma<le  overture  to  the  councill  in  the  other  you 
sent  directly  only  to  inyselfe;  and  because  I  found  them 
generally  to  concurr( ,  that  it  would  prove  as  dangerous 
as  the  first,  1  did  not  thinke  it  fit  any  otherwise  to  de- 
clare your  lordshi[)s'  pleasure  therein.    And,  whereas  it 
pleased  your  lor(lsiii{)S  in  your  last  letters  to  command  us 
U>  deale  moderately  in  the  great  matter  of  religion ;  I  had. 


250 


APPENDIX. 


before  the  receipt  of  your  lordships'  letters,  presumed 
to  advise  such  as  dealt  in  it  for  a  time  to  hold  a  more  re- 
Btraynt  hand  therein ;  and  M^ee  were  botli  thinking  our- 
selves  what  course  to  take  in  the  Revocation  of  what  was 
alread}^  done,  with  least  incouragement  to  them  and 
others,  since  the  feare  that  this  course  begun  in  Dubhn 
would  fall  upon  tlie  rest  Avas  apprehended  over  all  the 
kingdom  ;  so  that  I  think  yo*ur  lordships'  direction  was 
to  greate  purpose,  and  the  other  course  might  have  over- 
throwne  the  meanes  to  our  owne  ende  of  reformation  of 
religion.  Not  that  I  thinke  too  greate  precisenesse  can 
bee  used  in  the  reforming  of  ourselves,  the  abuses  of  our 
owne  clergie,  church-livings,  and  discipline  ;  nor  that 
the  trueth  of  the  gospell  can  with  too  great  vehemencie, 
or  industrie,  bee  set  forward  in  all  places,  and  by  all  or- 
dinarie  means  most  proper  unto  itself,  that  was  first  set 
foorth,  and  spread  in  meekenesse ;  not  that  I  thinke  any 
corporall  prosecution  or  punishment  can  bee  too  severe 
for  such  as  shall  bee  found  seditious  instruments  of  for- 
raine  or  inward  practices ;  not  that  I  thinke  it  fit  that 
any  principall  magistrates  should  bee  chosen  without  tak- 
ing the  oathe  of  obedience,  nor  tolerated  in  absenting 
themselves  from  pubhque  divine  service ;  but  that  wee 
may  bee  advised  how  wee  doe  punish  in  their  bodies  or 
goods  any  such  only  for  religion  as  doe  professe  to  bee 
faithful  subjects  to  her  majestic,  and  against  whom  the 
contrary  cannot  bee  proved.  And  since,  if  the  Irish 
were  utterly  rooted  out,  there  was  much  lesse  likelihood 
that  tliis  countrey  could  bee  thereby  in  any  time  planted 
by  the  English,  since  they  are  so  farre  from  inliabiting 
well  any  part  of  that  they  have  already  ;  and  that  more 
than  is  likely  to  bee  inliabited  may  bee  easily  chosen  out 
and  reserved  in  such  places  by  the  sea  side,  or  upon  great 
rivers,  as  may  bee  planted  to  great  purpose  for  a  future 
absolute  reducement  of  this  countrey,  I  thinke  it  would 
a-s  much  avail  the  speedy  settling  of  this  countrey  as  any. 
ihing  ;  that  it  would  please  her  majestic  to  deale  liberally 
with  the  Irish  lords  of  countreyes,  or  such  as  are  now  of 
great  reputation  amongst  them,  in  the  distribution  of 
such  lands  as  they  have  formerly  possessed,  or  tlie  state 
here  can  make  little  use  of  her  majestic ;  if  they  con- 
tinue as  they  ought  to  doe,  and  yield  the  Queen  as  much 


APPENDIX. 


251 


rommoditie  as  shee  may  otherwise  expect,  shee  hath 
made  a  good  purchase  of  such  subjects  for  such  land.— 
If  any  of  them  hereafter  be  disobedient  to  her  lawes,  or 
breake  foorth  in  rebellion,  shee  may,  when  they  shall  be 
more  divided,  ruine  them  more  easily  for  example  unto 
others,  and  (if  it  be  thought  fit)  ma,y  plant  English  oi 
other  Irish  in  their  countryes :  for  although  there  ever 
have  been,  and  hereafter  may  bee  small  irruptions  in 
some  places,  which  at  the  first  may  easily  be  suppressed, 
yet  tlie  suflering  them  to  grow  to  that  general  head  and 
combination,  did  questionlesse  proceede  from  great 
errour  in  the  judgment  heere,  and  may  be  easily,  as  I 
thinke,  prevented  hereafter.  And  further,  it  may  please 
her  Majestie  to  ground  her  resolution  for  the  time  and 
numbers  of  the  next  abatement  of  the  list  of  her  armie, 
somewhat  upon  our  poor  advice  from  hence,  and  to  be- 
#  leeve  that  wee  will  not  so  far  corrupt  our  judgments 

with  any  private  respects  and  without  necessitie,  to  con- 
tinue her  charge,  seeing  wee  do  throughly  conceive  how 
grievous  it  is  unto  her  estate,  and  that  we  may  not  bee 
precisely  tyed  to  an  establisliment  that  shall  conclude 
the  payments  of  the  treasure  since  it  hath  ever  been 
thought  fit  to  be  otherwise  till  the  comming  over  of  the 
Earle  of  Essex :  and  some  such  extraordinary  occasions 
may  fall  out  that  it  will  be  dangerous  to  attend  your 
lordship's  resolutions,  and  when  it  will  bee  safe  to  dimi- 
nish the  armie  here,  that  there  may  be  some  other 
course  though*  of  by  some  other  employment,  to  dis- 
burden this  countrey  of  the  idle  swordmen,  in  whom  I 
find  an  inclination  apt  enough  to  bee  carried  elsewhere, 
eitlier  by  some  of  this  countrey  of  best  reputation 
among  them,  or  in  companies  as  now  they  stand  under 
English  captains,  who  may  be  reinforced  with  the 
greatest  part  of  the  Irish.  That  it  may  be  left  to  our 
discretion  to  make  passages  and  bridges  into  coun- 
treyes  otherwise  inaccessable,  and  to  build  little  pyles  of 
Btone  in  such  garrisons  as  shall  bee  thought  fittest,  to 
bee  continual  bridles  upon  the  people  by  the  conmioditio 
of  which  wee  may  at  any  time  drawe  the  greatest  parte 
of  the  armie  together  to  make  a  head  against  any  j)art 
that  shall  first  brake  out,  and  yet  reserve  the  places 
ouely  with  a  word  to  put  in  greater  forcei  m  occasion 


252 


APPENUli*.. 


shall  require,  which  I  am  persuaded  will  prove  great 

pledges  upon  this  countrey,  that  upon  any  urgent  cause 
the  Queen  may  safely  drawe  the  greatest  part  of  her 
armie  here  out  of  the  kingdom,  to  be  employed  for  a 
time  elsewhere,  wherein  I  beseech  your  lordships  to  con- 
sider what  a  strength  so  many  experienced  captaines  a*.id 
souldiers  would  be  to  any  armie  of  new  men  erected  in 
England  against  an  invasion,  or  sent  abroad  in  any  of- 
fensive war:  But  untill  tliese  places  be  built,  I  cannot 
conceive  how  her  Majestic  (with  any  safetie)  can  make 
any  great  diminution  of  her  ai-mie.    Lastly,  I  doe 
humbly  desire  your  lordships  to  receive  the  farther  ex- 
planation of  my  meaning  and  confirmation  of  my  rea- 
sons that  doe  induce  me  unto  these  propositions  :  for  the 
Lord  President  of  Mounster,  who  as  he  hath  been  a  very 
worthy  actor  in  the  reducement  and  defence  of  this 
kingdom,  so  doe  I  thinke  him  to  be  the  best  able  to  give 
you  a  through  account  of  the  present  estate  and  future 
providence  for  the  preservation  thereof:   Wherein  it 
may  please  your  lordships  to  require  liis  opinion  of  the 
hazard  this  kingdom  is  like  to  runne  in  if  it  should  by 
any  mightie  power  be  invaded,  and  how  hard  it  will  bee 
for  us  in  any  measure  to  provide  for  the  present  defence, 
if  any  such  be  intended,  and  withall  to  goe  on  with  the 
suppression  of  these  that  are  left  in  rebellion,  so  that 
wee  must  either  adventure  the  kindling  of  tliis  fire  that 
is, almost  extinguished,  or  intending  onelie  that,  leave 
the  other  to  exceeding  peril.    And  tlius  having  remem- 
bered to  your  lordships  the  most  material  poynts  i  as  I 
conceive)  that  are  fitted  for  the  present  to  bee  coms- 
dered  of,  I  doe  humbly  recommend  myselfe  and  them  to 
your  lordships'  favour.    From  her  Majestie's  Castle  of 
Dublin,  the  sixe  and  twentieth  of  February,  1(302-3 


THS  END. 


PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

P.  J.  KENEDY,  ^ 

Excelsior  Catholic  FeblisMM^  lloisse, 
5  BARCLAY  ST.,  NEAR  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK, 

Opposite  the  Astor  House 


Adventures  of  Michael  Dtvyer   $1  00 

Adelmar  the  Templar.   A  Tale   4:0 

Ballads,  Poems,  and  Songs  of  William  Col- 
lins  1  00 

Blanche,    A  Tale  from  the  French   40 

Battle  of  Ventry  Harbor   20 

Bibles,  from  $2  50  to   15  00 

Brooks  and  Hiiffhes  Controversy   75 

Butler\s  Feasts  and  Fasts   1  25 

Blind  Agnese.   A  Tale   50 

Butler's  Catechism   8 

with  Mass  Prayers   30 

Bible  History,    Challoner   50 

Christian  Virtues.    By  St.  Liguori   1  OO 

Christian's  Bide  of  Life.    By  St.  Liguori   30 

Christmas  Nighfs  Entertaimnents   GO 

Conversion  of  Batisbonne   50 

Clifton  Tracts.    4  vols...   3  OO 

Catholic  Offering.    By  Bishop  Walsh   1  50 

Christian  Ferfection.    Ilodriguez.    3  vols.  Only 

(■oinplclc  edition   4:  00 

CafhoUc  Church  i'n  the  United  States.    By  J. 

{}.  SlicM,.    JHustrated   2  00 

Catholic  Missions  among  the  Indians   2  50 

Chateau  Lescure.    A  Talo   50 

(Jonscience ;  or,  May  Brooke.    A  Talo   1  00 

Catholic  Hf/mn-Book   15 

Christian  Brother.^'  1st  Book   13 


Catholic  Prayer- Books,  25c.,  50c.,  tip  to  12  00 


l^'f  Any  of  Jibovc  t)ookH  norit  free,  oy  mail  on  rccoipt  of  prico.  At^fnts 
Wfintcfl  ovcrywiicro  to  hcII  aljovo  bookn,  to  wiioni  liberal  terms  will  l)c  given. 
AddrcHS 

P.  J.  KKNKDV,  ExcHnior  Cntholif  Pii).lishing  House, 
S  Jtarolay  Utrcet,  New  York. 


3  Publications  of  P.  J.  Kenedy,  5  Barclay  St.,  N.  Y. 


Christian  Brothers'  2d  Jiooh   $0  25 

3d      "    GS 

Mh     "    88 

Catholic  Trimer   6* 

Catholic  School-Booh   25 

Cannon's  Practical  Speller   25 

Car2)enter's  Speller   25 

lyich  3Iassey.    An  Irish  Story   100 

Doctrine  of  3Tiracles  Explained   1  00 

Jjoctrinal  Catechism  , . .  50 

Douay              "     25 

IHjyloma  of  Children  of  3Iary   20 

Erin  go  Bragh,    (Senlimental  Songster.)   25 

El  Nnevo  Hestamento,    (Spanish.)   1  50 

Elevation  of  the  Soul  to  God   75 

Epistles  and  Gos2)els,    (Goffine.)   2  00 

Eucharist ica  ;  or,  Holy  Eucharist   1.00 

End  of  Controversy/,    (Mihier.)   75 

El  Nnevo  Catecismo,   (Spanisli.)   15 

El  Catecismo  de  la  iPoctrina  Christia^ia. 

(Spanish  Catechism)   15 

El  Catecismo  Bijmlda,   (Spanish)   12 

Eurniss'  Tracts  for  Spiritual  Heading   1  00 

Faugh  a  Ballagh  Comic  Songster   25 

Fifty  Reasons   25 

Following  of  Christ   50 

Fashion,    A  Tale.    35  Illustrations  *. .  50 

Faith  and  Fancy,    Poems.    Savage   75 

Glories  of  Mary,    (St.  Liguori.)   1  25 

Golden  Booh  of  Confraternities   50 

Grounds  of  Catholic  Doctrine.   25 

Grace's  Outlines  of  History   50 

Holy  Eucharist   1  00 

Hours  before  the  Altar,    Red  edges    50 

History  of  Ireland,    Moore.    2  vols   5  00 

"                  "           O'Mahoney's  Keating   4  OO 

Hay  on  Miracles    1  00 

Hamiltons,    A  Tale  ,   50 

History  of  Modern  Europe,    Shea   1  25 

Hours  tvifh  the  Sacred  Heart   50 

Irish  National  Songster    .2  00 

Imitation  of  Christ   4:0 


Catholic  Prayer-Books,  25c.,  .50c.,  tip  to  .       .       .      .      .  12  00 


Any  of  above  bookn  sent  free  by  mail  on  receipt  of  price.  Ag:ents 
wanted  everywhere  to  leell  above  books,  to  whom  hberal  terms  will  be  given. 
Address 

P.  J.  KENEI>Y,  E>:ceL-ioi'  Catholic  Publishhig  House, 
S  Jiurclaij  Sfi'ecf,  j\cw  York, 


Publications  of  P.  J.  Kenedy,  5  Barclay  St  ,  N.  Y.  3 

Irish  Fireside  Stories,  TaleSf  and  Legends, 
(Magnificent  new  booli  just  out.)  About  400  pages 
large  12mo,  containing  about  40  humorous  and  pa- 
thetic  sketches.     12  fine  full-page  Illustrations. 

Sold  only  ly  siibscriptioii.    Only   $1  00 

Keeper  of  the  Lazaretto,   A  Tale   dzO 

ICirivan  Unmasked,    By  Archbishop  Hughes   12 

King's  Daughters,    An  Allegory   75 

Life  and  Legends  of  St.  Patrick   1  00 

Life  of  St,  3iarg  of  Egypt   GO 

"  Wine f ride   60 

"         "     Louis   40 

"         "    Alphonsns  M,  Ligiiori   75 

"              Ignatius  Loyola,   2  vols   S  00 

Life  of  Blessed  Virgin   75 

Life  of  Tfladame  de  la  Feltrie   50 

Lily  of  Israel,    22  Engravings   7S 

Life  Stories  of  Dying  Penitents   75 

Loveof^Iaty   50 

Love  of  Christ   50 

Life  of  Pope  JP  /  us  IX.   1  00 

Lenten  3Ianual   50 

Lizzie  3Iaitland,    A  Tale   7S 

Little  Frajik,    A  Tale   50 

Little  CatJiolic  Ilymn-Dooh   10 

Lyra  Catholica  (large  Hymn-Book)   75 

Mission  and  Duties  of  Young  Women   GO 

Maltese  Cross,   A  Talc   40 

Manual  of  Children  of  3Iary.   50 

3Iater  AdmiraMlis   1  50 

3Iysteries  of  tJie  Incarnation,   (St.  Liguori.). ...  75 

3Ionfh  of  November   40 

3Ionth  of  Sacred  Heart  of  J esus   50 

"  3Ia7  y   50 

Manual  of  Controversy   75 

Michael  Divyer,    An  Ir'isli  Story  of  1798   1  00 

Milner's  End  of  Controversy   75 

May  lirooke  ;  or,  Conscience.    A  Talc   1  00 

New  Testament     50 

Oramaika,    An  Indian  Slory   75 

Old  Andreiv  the  Weaver   50 

Preparation  for  Death.    St.  Liguori   75 

Cnfholic  Prayr.r-Jiooks,  25c.,  50c.,  vp  to   12  00 

fc^'/"  Any  of  ,'il)ovo  l)ookM  Hcnl,  fnu;  Ijy  iniiil  on  rcncipt  of  jjiMcc  AltcmIs 
vnnl'-d  cvcrywlicrc  to  (-dl  uhovc  book.';,  to  whom  liljcnil  terms  will  be -ivcn. 
Addrc.-'H 

P.  J.  KFlVFi:i>V,  ExoHsior  CnMiolic,  Piibli-liin;;  IIom;c, 
S  JiarvJay  Street,  New  York. 


4  Publications  of  P.  J.  Kenedy,  5  Barclay  St.,  N,  Y. 

Frayer,    By  St.  Lignori   $0  50 

JPaj^ist  3Iis represented   25 

I*oor  3Ian^s  Catechism   75 

Mosary  HooJc,    15  Illustrations   10 

Home :  Its  Churclies,  Charities,  and  Schools.   By  Rev. 

Wm.  H.  Neligan,  LL.D   1  00 

Modriffiiez's   Christian   JPerfection,     8  vols. 

OnJy  complete  edition   4  00 

Mule  of  Life,    St.  Liguori   40 

Sure  Way;  or ^  Father  and  Son   25 

Scapular  Booh   10 

Spirit  of  St,  Lignori   75 

Stations  of  the  Cross,    14  Illustrations   10 

Sjyiritual  3Iaxinis,    (St.  Vincent  de  Paul)   dO 

Saintli/  Characters,    By  Rev.  VYm.  H.  Neligan, 

LL.'D   1  00 

Seraphic  Staff.   25 

3Ianiial,  75  cts.  to   S  00 

Sermons  of  Father  Burkes  plain   2  00 

gilt  edges..   3  00 

Schmidts  Exquisite  Tales,   6  vols   3  00 

Shipwreck,    A  Talc.   50 

Savage^s  Foems   2  00 

Sybil :  A  Dvama.    By  John  Savage   75 

Treatise  on  Sixteen  Names  of  Lreland,  By 

Rev.  J.  O'Leary,  D.D   50 

Tu  o  Cottages,    By  Lady  Fullerton   50 

Th  'nk  Weil  On't.    Large  type   40 

Thornherry  Abbey.    A  Tale   50 

Three  Eleanors,   A  Tale   75 

Trijy  to  France,    Rev.  J.  Donelan   1  00 

Three  Kings  of  Cologne   30 

Un  iversal  Reader   50 

Vision  of  Old  Andreiv  the  Weaver   50 

Visits  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament   40 

Willy  Beilly,    Paper  cover   50 

Way  of  the  Cross,    14  Illustrations   5 

Western  3Iissions  and  3Iissionaries   2  00 

Walker^s  Dictionary   75 

Yo  u ng  Captives,   A  Tale   50 

Youth^s  Birector   50 

Young  Crusaders,   A  Tale   50 

CathoHc  Prayer-Books,  25c.,  50c.,  up  to   12  00 

\^W^  Any  of  above  books  sent  free  by  mail  on  receipt  of  price.  Agents 

v.-anted  everywhere  to  sell  above  books,  to  Avhoiu  liberal  terms  will  be  given. 
Address 

P.  J.  KENF.DY,  Excelsior  Catholic  Pr.blidiinc;  Ilouce, 
5  Harclay  Strett,  New  Yorlv. 


r 


Bapst  Library 

Boston  College 
Chestnut  Hill,  Mass.  02167 


